


Move Along

by Faythren



Series: The Marked Chronicles [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: #coulsonlives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Kidnapping, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Robot/Human Relationships, S.H.I.E.L.D. exists in this universe, Sam is not in this at all, Sam replacement, Sparkmates, Temporary Character Death, Torture, abuse recovery, completed fic, daily updates, just have to post it all, marvel crossover, not a fem!Sam, there are avengers in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:11:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 80
Words: 363,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faythren/pseuds/Faythren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ari Witwicky is an only child living with her divorced father. He's an alcoholic with a mean temper, making life not always so easy. All Ari dreams of is the day she can finally get away. She gets her chance when the car she buys turns out to be a robotic alien by the name of Sideswipe, with a twin brother named Sunstreaker. Sideswipe opens her eyes to a war that has been going on for thousands of years, and Ari discovers she may be the only one who can stop it. She has something they want, something the Autobots have sworn to protect and the Decepticons wish to use to kill all of mankind. And as it turns out, it's more than just a pair of glasses. Primus has marked her for a purpose, a destiny, that is the key to the Earth's survival. As she struggles along this new path she also struggles to build and hold onto the new family she's always wanted, while trying to understand the feelings growing inside of her she's not sure are right for her to have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tugging of Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing Transformers or Marvel related
> 
> This story, it's been a long time in the making. I haven't finished it yet but I'm almost at chapter 50 right now and I still have a lot more to do, but I didn't want to wait any longer posting it on here.
> 
> This story is different, I use the AU tag for a reason. If you want to know more, see the end notes. But if you're already willing to give it a try, please, go onward and enjoy.

Ari tries to get her tired body to move faster as she cleans off the last few booths at Hal’s Diner, mechanically picking up abandoned dinner plates and wiping the linoleum table tops as clean as they’re going to get. The time is reaching 7 at night. She’s been working since 6 am and Saturday has always been one of their busier days. Ari wants nothing more than to pick up her paycheck and go home. The thought of going home doesn’t even scare her at the moment. This is the last check she needs, after almost an entire year of working at Hal’s, before she will have a total of $4,500 saved up, enough to get at least a fairly decent used car.

After depositing the last of the dishes by the kitchen sink Ari wipes her sweaty brow with the sleeve of her white long-sleeved t-shirt she wears underneath her blue work shirt, hangs up her apron, and then approaches Hal, a heavyset fellow with thinning black hair, a bit of a stubble on his chin, and the owner of the classic 70’s style diner. The man notices her and turns away from the register to face her, check already in hand.

“Heading home, Ari?” he asks.

“Yep, just need my paycheck,” Ari replies with a polite smile as he hands her the slip of paper. “So, are you going to be needing any help for the late shifts on weekends?”

Hal sighs in exasperation, “Look, Ari, I already told you. You may be one of my hardest workers but I don’t like the idea of you taking the bus home at ten ‘o clock at night.”

“I know, but with this paycheck I’ll be able to afford a car now. Hopefully I can get it tomorrow on my day off. Then I won’t have to take the bus anymore.”

“If you can afford a car now, then why are you asking for more hours? What else could you possibly be saving up for?”

Ari rolls her eyes. “College doesn’t pay for itself, Hal. I may only be at the end of my sophomore year but I got to start saving up now if I’m ever going to afford it.”

He raises a brow. “What, the old man won’t pay for it for you? You said you dad’s a banker or something, right? He should have plenty of money to send you.”

She inwardly winces but keeps her face neutral and voice even. She lies automatically, well practiced and without flaw. “Yeah, he does work over at the bank, but paying for college by myself is something I want to do.” The first part is true. The last, not so much.

Hal laughs and shakes his head. “That’s mighty responsible of you, kid. Alright, since you’ll have your own car I’ll let you have the extra hours on the weekends. I might even give you some weekday ones once school lets out. This is the last week coming up before summer, right?”

She gives him a rare grin that, for once, reaches her pale blue eyes. “Thank you, Hal! You’re the best!”

Hal reaches out to give her a pat on the head but Ari unintentionally winces and takes a step back with averted eyes. Hal just shakes his head again in confusion. Every time someone tries to touch Ari she shies away. No one really knows why and she’s determined to keep it that way.

Hal clears his throat in an attempt to clear the sudden tension. “Well, have a good night, Ms. Witwicky. And good luck tomorrow.”

She nods, expression passive. “Thanks.” Ari then grabs her messenger bag, waves her boss goodbye, and heads out the door.

The warm Nevada night enwraps Ari like a fleece blanket, her long-sleeved shirt making her almost overly hot. She’s tempted to roll up her sleeves in order to let the gentle breeze help cool her skin, but she dares not. Too many people are still wandering around the streets and the setting sun casts too much light. The shadows stretch out to greet her, but it is not enough. Someone may see. And if someone sees, then her father, Ron, will find out. And if Ron finds out she will be lucky if she survives the punishment.

Ari approaches the bus stop just in time to catch the 7:15 bus. She climbs aboard, pays the fare, and settles into one of the plastic seats for the fifteen minute ride to the stop just two blocks from her house. The distance would normally take her a good two hours to walk and she can’t wait until she has a car to drive herself with seats far more comfortable than what she sits in now.

Too bad she still has so much more to endure in order to get it.

* * *

 

Everything is quiet when Ari enters the two story suburban house her and her father live in. The lights are off and there is no car in the driveway, which really isn’t surprising. Ron is still probably at the bar. As she picks her way across the floor, which is littered with beer bottles, she wonders if he will be coming home tonight, both hoping so and dreading it. The thing is, if he doesn’t come home tonight, then she probably won’t be able to go get her car tomorrow. The only reason she needs him to go with her at all is because she is only sixteen and can’t sign for the car title without an adult to cosign with her.

When Ari reaches the stairs to head up to her room she notices a bra, not her own since it is larger than her small A cup, hanging on the banister, probably “accidentally” left from the girl Ron brought home the night before.

Oh how she can’t wait for her eighteenth birthday when she’ll be a legal adult and can get away from this place.

Once in her room Ari places her bag on her desk chair and plops down on her bed lying on her back so she’s staring up at the ceiling. It’s a fairly plain room, twin sized bed with silver and blue bedspread along one wall underneath a window that overlooks the backyard, dresser and vanity mirror on the right against the same wall as the door, desk on the left underneath another window that looks out at the space between her yard and the next with a fence dividing them. Very few personal items, just a laptop, some books, and a picture of her mom that are kept stored in her closet out of sight. She learned long ago that anything precious to her is likely to be destroyed if left out in the open.

Ari’s not sure why she keeps the photo of her mom, a vibrant woman with big eyes and reddish-brown hair, the same hair Ari inherited. Her mom, Judy, left ten years ago. Just packed her bags, kissed Ari on the head, and left her daughter and husband behind. Divorce papers were sent in the mail not long after. Her father then turned to alcohol to drown out his sorrow. Ari was too young at the time to understand what was happening. She remembers going up to her father one night, who was lying on the couch surrounded by bottles, and asking why her mom hasn’t come home yet.

That’s when Ron realized the drinking wasn’t enough to mask all of the sadness and anger. He needed something else to take it all out on.

He hit her, shouting that Judy left with another man because she was ashamed to have such a disgraceful daughter.

How much of that is true, Ari doesn’t know. Every time she tries to ask it sets her father off. She rolls up her sleeves looking at the black and blue skin of her arms. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t have at least a dozen fresh bruises covering her body, forcing her to constantly wear long sleeves and jean pants, no matter the weather. There are even a few scars from when Ron used a knife a few times.

Ari sighs and gets up, grabbing her laptop so she can start on her homework. It’s not much of homework, really, just mostly studying. Exams start this week and she’s not sure how much studying she’ll be able to do after tomorrow. It all depends on Ron. As she waits for her computer to boot up she pulls out her phone and uses her bank app to deposit her check into her bank account so that everything is ready for when she writes out the check to pay for her car tomorrow.

_It’ll be worth it_ , she tells herself. _No matter what he dishes out, it’ll be worth it. With a car I’ll have more freedom. Things won’t be as bad._

After about two hours of studying Ari hears the front door slam shut causing the house walls to reverberate with the force. She winces. It’s only 9:45. He’s home early. That’s both good and bad. Good because it means she can talk to him now about going to get a car tomorrow and he will refrain from getting himself plastered before they head out to the dealership. Bad because it means that he struck out with getting a girl tonight and/or got himself kicked out of the bar. He’s going to be in an even fouler mood than usual.

Ari takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly and slightly shaky.

“Arianna Samantha Witwicky, get down here right now!” Ron calls, the volume and anger of his voice scaring her.

_Well, best to get this over with. I already know he is very capable of breaking down my door when he wants to._

Ari exits her bedroom and heads downstairs to find her father, a short man with balding brown hair and a large beer belly, standing in the middle of the living room looking around at the floor at the dozens of beer bottles scattered about. He sways on his feet slightly from his night at the bar, almost slipping on the glass containers beneath his feet. It’s a miracle he didn’t crash on the way home.

“Did you need something?” Ari asks, her voice hollow and emotionless.

“Yeah,” Ron says with a slight slur as he points a finger at her and continues to tilt back and forth on his feet. “Clean up this mess you made.”

She sighs and does as she’s told, grabbing up a garbage bag and clearing out all of the beer bottles. When she returns from taking out the garbage she finds her father sitting on the couch watching some random sitcom with another beer in his hand. She stands a few feet away from him unsure as to how to start this conversation.

Ron glances at her out of the corner of his eye. “If you have something to say, say it.”

She bites her lip. “I’ve saved up enough money to buy a car. You promised that when I do…you will go with me to buy one, so…can we go tomorrow? It’s Sunday.”

His brow furrows in concentration, his drunken mind struggling ever having such a conversation. After a few moments his face clears and a devilish smile graces his lips. “You remember your part of the bargain, right?”

Ari gulps. “Y-yes.”

“And you plan on upholding your part of the bargain, correct.”

She nods, not trusting her voice anymore.

Ron nods triumphantly. “Then yes, we can go get you a car tomorrow. Be up by ten. I want to be at the bar by happy hour but I still want to be able to take my time with you.”

A shiver runs down Ari’s spine as she heads back to her room.

_Tomorrow is going to be a very long day._

* * *

 

The next day, Ari and her father drive up to the used car lot they had discussed getting her car from all those months ago. It’s not the best selection in the world but so long as it’s got four wheels, an engine, and won’t give out on her right away she’ll be happy.

Ron, dressed up in a collared shirt and slacks, always looking the presentable, accomplished head of his family and responsible father when around others, goes up to talk to “Uncle Bobby B” while Ari starts to browse the cars. Most of them look like crap. Then she starts to feel a weird sensation in her chest, almost like tugging. She wonders if she’s imagining things but decides to follow it anyway to be sure.

What she finds takes her breath away.

It’s a red, sleek, old-fashioned sports car with black racing strips zipping from the hood to the bumper of the car.

Ari already knows it’s perfect.

She opens the driver’s side door and sits behind the wheel, the plush leather seats seeming to mold perfectly to her body. After closing the door she grips the steering wheel. She notices a strange insignia in the center of the wheel on the car horn, an odd, geometric-looking head. Before she can wonder too much about it Ron comes up beside her and looks in through the open window.

“Nice,” he says, sounding impressed. “This is a 1989 Corvette Base Hatchback. Haven’t seen one of these in a long time.”

“Yeah…Hatchback…,” the car dealer says absentmindedly. “Yeah, what is this? What the _heck_ is this? I don’t know nothing about this car!”

He argues with his associate about the seemingly random car in his car lot but Ari interrupts him. “How much?”

The dealer looks back at her, shrugs his shoulders, looks over the car, and then looks back at her. “Five thousand.”

Ari curses under her breath. “I can’t pay much over four thousand. Can’t you go a little lower?”

“Sorry, kid. Can’t help you if you’re going to be a cheapskate. It’s five thousand or no deal.”

She sighs heavily and gets out of the car. Running a hand longingly along the hood she goes to follow the dealer and her father to look at another car. The disappointment settles heavy in her chest. There is just something about that car that feels…special to her. Like it’s destiny.

Suddenly a high-pitched wailing sounds from behind them. They all turn to see all of the cars’ glass explode. Ari yelps and ducks, covering her head with her arms to protect herself from flying shards. When the sound stops they look around, dumbfounded. All of the windows in all of the cars are completely shattered.

All except for the Hatchback.

The car dealer turns to her, holding up four shaking fingers, “Four thousand.”

* * *

 

Driving her new car home is like a dream. The purr of the engine is so smooth Ari knows there is probably a really nice piece of machinery underneath that hood, although it’s not like she knows enough about cars to be able to tell the difference anyway. Just everything about the Hatchback seems so much nicer than what it looks like on the outside.

“Maybe I should think about putting some money aside for a new paint job,” Ari says to herself as she pulls into the driveway next to Ron. “Then you’ll look really beautiful.”

A pleasant heat and electrical charge vibrate the steering wheel and into Ari’s hands, almost as if the car really is purring. Almost as if the idea of a new paint job is something the Hatchback is excited about. But before Ari’s mind can question what just happened Ron yells at her to get in the house and he turns to head for the front door.

She gulps as she takes the keys out of the ignition. “I really don’t want to face him.” She looks down at the wheel, stroking the strange insignia with her forefinger. “But if I don’t he’ll take you away from me.”

Ari leans forward to press her forehead against the top of the wheel with a heavy sigh.

What if she turns the car back on and peels rubber out of the driveway right now, leaving this house, her father, and her miserable life behind once and for all? She wouldn’t have to put up with him anymore. Not the abuse. Not the cuts. Not the touches to her body. He’s never done much, not even going beyond the barrier of her clothes, but they have started to become more and more frequent the older she gets. It’s starting to scare her. Especially the nights when he fails to get a girl.

And she promised him that he can do whatever he wants to her if he helps her get a car. Punch her. Kick her. Slice up her skin. Anything, so long as she doesn’t need to go to the hospital afterwards. And she won’t protest. She won’t struggle. She won’t cry out. She’ll just lay there and take it, allowing him complete domination.

But he really wouldn’t do anything like… _that_ …right? She’s his daughter, no matter how much he seems to hate her. It would be incest. Certainly that fact disgusts him as much as it does her. It’ll keep him from going too far.

Right?

“Arianna Samantha Witwicky, get in the house! _Now!_ ” Ron cries from the doorway of the house.

Ari sighs one last time and exits the safety of the Hatchback to go meet her fate.

* * *

 

Sideswipe watches his charge enter the house with worry flowing through his circuits.

He and Sunstreaker arrived on the strangely beautiful planet just yesterday. The plan had been to simply follow her around and make sure the Decepticons didn’t try anything before the other Autobots arrived, but when they found out she was going to buy a car the twins decided it would be easier if one of them posed as her new car.

Unfortunately, the place she went to get her new car from was a complete dump.

They argued about it for a while and in the end Sideswipe relented to scanning a beat-up car to become her Guardian. He hates all of the dirt clinging to his frame and the fading paint. And this form definitely can’t go as fast as what he would like.

He’s sure Sunstreaker is parked somewhere nearby in his sweet Lamborghini Gallardo alt mode laughing at him right now.

But there is nothing Sideswipe can do about it now. Sunstreaker never would have agreed to become the girl’s car. Not only would transforming into a piece of crap car kill him but he finds the very idea of a “dirty, slagging human” riding in his interior disgusting. All Sideswipe can do now is wait it out and, as soon as he can, choose an alt mode so sweet his brother will be forever jealous.

In the meantime all he has to do is protect his new charge. Ari. Arianna, that man had called her, her parental unit, her “father” as humans call them. It’s a very beautiful name. Sideswipe wonders where her “mother” is. And why was her father so mad at her? And why did she not want to go face him?

_“Hey, Sunny?”_ Sideswipe calls out through his sibling bond with his twin.

_“What did I say about you calling me that, Sides?”_ he brother grounds out a moment later.

Sideswipe chuckles. _“Oh, come on, Sunny, you know it doesn’t really bother you that much.”_

Sunny growls. _“Whatever.”_

_“Anyway, I think something might be going on here,”_ Sides says seriously.

_“What, is there a Decepticon? Do you need backup?”_

_“No, it’s not that. It’s just that Ari was saying to herself how she didn’t want to go face her father, her parental unit.”_

_“Oh, great, the slagging human we have to watch is crazy.”_

_“Sunny,”_ Sides says disapprovingly. _“She’s not crazy. It was more like she was trying to talk herself into doing something she really doesn’t want to do. Like she was_ scared _to face her father. What would make her scared of her parental unit?”_

Sunny is silent for a long time. _“I don’t know. Could be anything. Just keep a close optic on her._

Sideswipe sighs. “ _I will, although it’s not like I can hear much of what is going on inside the house.”_

_“Well, so long as she doesn’t scream or anything then chances are she’s fine.”_

_“Yeah, you’re probably right.”_

_“Alright, I’m going to go see if I can find a secluded area for when I send out the beacon to Optimus tonight. You going to be good here?”_

_“Yeah, I’m fine. How long will it take the others to get here again?”_

_“About a couple of Earth days. No more than three.”_

_“Okay. Good luck and call me if you run into any ‘Cons.”_

_“You too.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this story is kind of different. I don't like Sam, for many reasons, but I've gotten into that enough in the past and won't do so here. So, I took Sam out and put my own character in. Ari is completely mine; as you can see, she is not a female version of Sam. But because I put my own character in his place it left me with many opportunities to change things:
> 
> 1\. The main character's home life is VERY different, obviously. She has a dad but the mom is gone. And her dad isn't so nice (I'm sure you can guess by the tags). I left names the same (Ron and Judy), but personalities are going to be different. Everything with her great great grandfather finding Megatron and stuff is going to be the same though.
> 
> 2\. No Miles
> 
> 3\. No Mikaela
> 
> 4\. Sides and Sunny show up in the beginning of the first movie
> 
> 5\. No Bumblebee yet (Sorry Bee fans, but since I wanted SidesxOC I decided to completely replace Bee with Sides and Sunny. I promise he'll show up by the time I get to the section with the second movie though. Basically he'll show up when Sides was supposed to.)
> 
> 6\. Number 1 is going to affect where she ends up after the first movie and how the following movies and in between play out
> 
> 7\. She's going to become very close to Lennox cause he's awesome :)
> 
> 8\. Fun with AllSpark stuff, and I promise, the ideas I have for the AllSpark have not been done yet
> 
> This fic will be going through Transformers 1-3 but not 4. Where this fic is going will probably not leave me with an opportunity to do 4. Also, I decided to merge the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this, so S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers exist in this universe. I did it because I want to do a full-blown Transformers/Avengers crossover for a sequel to this fic. So, some Marvel characters will be showing up here, but I promise you don't have to be a Marvel fan in order to understand everything. And just so you know, not all of the Avengers will be showing up in this fic. Some will, but not all.
> 
> I don't know how often I'll post since I'm so far ahead but we'll see. You might at least get more than one today if the reception of this fic is good. It'll probably be the only time you get more than one chapter in a day though. After that, I'll probably do at least once a week.
> 
> Now, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	2. Unwanted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saw that I got my first kudos so here is your reward. Will post another chapter if I get my first comment.
> 
> Some of that abuse the tag mentions happens in this chapter. Some people have thought in the past that I went overboard, but I just want you to know that this level of abuse, it does happen, and it can get a lot worse than this. You don't see any of it but you do see the aftermath, nothing graphic or anything. Just thought I'd warn you.

Ari’s eyes are bleary and bloodshot when she wakes to the beeping of her alarm on Monday morning. She glances at the red digital numbers of the clock sitting on her desk. 5 am. School starts at 7:30. She has to check on her new wounds to make sure they are healing properly and without infection. Then she has to apply new bandages, get ready for school, most likely skip breakfast yet again because the first part of her morning is going to take forever, and make it to the bus stop by 6:30.

_Wait…I don’t have to ride the bus. I have a car now._

A smile graces her lips, small and barely there, but still a large difference from her mood last night when she cried herself to sleep.

Getting out of bed proves to be a grueling task as Ari’s new, extensive array of bruises and cuts cause her body to tense up in pain. Once she is upright she stands still for a few moments waiting for the pain to fade. When it is bearable she hobbles over to her dresser, chooses from her limited wardrobe of long-sleeved shirts and tattered jeans, and creeps down the hall to the bathroom. With the door securely locked she strips out of her tank top and shorts, nighttime being, sadly, the only time she is able to wear clothes that aren’t warm, and starts to peel off her many bandages.

Ari looks at herself in the mirror. She has many, many more bruises from when Ron punched and kicked her. He never hits her face, thankfully, since it would be harder to hide, but every other inch of her is free reign that he took full advantage of. She already had six scars in various places on her arms and legs. Now, about a dozen more cuts have joined them. Her father really favored the kitchen knife this time. He usually only cuts her when he is really angry. What caused such anger this time she is unsure of, but suspects something may have happened at work recently.

With a deep breath Ari lowers her eyes to her stomach, recalling how her father lifted up her shirt to expose the flat plain of flesh. It’s the first time he’s ever removed her clothes in anyway, although he went no further than her stomach. Still, the memory of how his grubbing fingers caressed her smooth skin feels too real even now, twisting her stomach into knots.

Then he picked up the knife again and in small, neat letters gouged the word “unwanted” into her body just a few inches above her belly button. Ari can already tell it is going to scar.

She still remembers the words he whispered into her ear as he restrained her wrists and ankles to the posts of his bed with belts so tight they left red marks.

“You are unwanted,” he said. “Unwanted by everyone. We all know it. Your mother knows it. That’s why she left. I know it. That’s why I beat you every day. I make sure to beat it into you. Now, now I will carve it into you so that you won’t ever forget.”

Ari is unwanted. She doesn’t need to be reminded; she knows that well enough already.

Her entire body is tense and aching so she decides to take a shower, the warm water flowing over her skin, her wounds, her memories, and washing everything down the drain. When the faucet finally has no more warm water to give she gets out, gingerly towels herself dry, redresses all of her wounds, and pulls on undergarments, a red long-sleeved shirt, bootcut jeans, and her favorite black Converses.

Ari’s mind keeps telling her that she’s running late, but she knows she has plenty of time what with having a car now. She even has enough time to grab some breakfast for once.

With a couple of S’mores Pop-tarts filling her up and her messenger bag on her shoulder Ari walks out to her car, excited to be driving it to school for the first time. All of the bad gets shoved to the back of her mind. Right now, behind the wheel of the Hatchback, Ari can pretend for at least a little while that things are okay. She can pretend the road she is driving down isn’t the one heading towards school, but out of town. Away from her father and all of the abuse she faces. She can pretend that, somewhere out there, she will find a place where she really will be wanted.

* * *

Sideswipe finds someone else dictating where he drives to be the strangest feeling he has ever experienced. He can’t take over the controls and drive for Ari himself, no matter how much he wants to. Optimus told him and Sunny that they are to keep watch over her and not to reveal themselves before he and the others arrive unless absolutely necessary. And that doesn’t include the slight discomfort of not being the mech behind the wheel.

Oh how he wishes a ‘Con would show up right now.

Ari turns the wheel to move them around a corner and she inhales sharply, wincing. Sides instantly focuses on his charge. Her face is contorted in pain and she’s holding an arm across her stomach. He scans her and finds that, although his scans are not as thorough as Ratchet the Hatchet’s, he is still able to tell that she has been injured recently. Now that he’s thinking about it she had been limping when she came out of the house.

First she’s afraid of her parental unit and now this? Just what is going on with this human girl?

 _“Sunny, something’s wrong_ , _”_ Sides says to his brother.

 _“If it’s not a ‘Con I don’t care, Sides,”_ is Sunstreaker’s half-sparked reply.

_“Sunny, we’re supposed to be protecting this girl and she’s hurt and I have no idea why.”_

A sigh sounds through the bond. “ _Hurt how? Are we talking paper cut, bruised knee, severed limb?”_

_“Severed limb? What the frag, Sunny? I mean she’s limping and she’s obviously in pain but I don’t have a fragging clue why. I don’t see anything wrong but it’s not like I can tell because of those clothes things humans insist on wearing.”_

_“Did you hear anything last night?”_

_“No, I didn’t. That’s what I don’t understand. She can barely move without hurting. Something_ must _have happened, but she didn’t cry out or call for help.”_

_“Sides, just don’t worry about it. It’s not like you can do anything anyway. Unless she’s in immediate danger we’re not supposed to interfere.”_

_“I know!”_ Sideswipes shouts, waves of anger being sent across the bond. Subconsciously, he starts to drive faster, not noticing until he feels Ari repeatedly pressing on his brake pedal with growing anxiety. Slowly he forces himself to calm down and gives full control back to the human in his interior. _“I know,”_ he says much quieter this time. _“It’s just…I feel so useless. I want to protect her and not just from the Decepticons. She’s hurting, Sunny, and it’s more than just on the outside. She’s hurting inside, too. I can see it in her optics, er, eyes. Something else is going on with her and we just don’t know it.”_

* * *

 

Ari arrives at school with fifteen minutes to spare before the first bell rings. The student parking lot is pretty packed but she manages to find an open spot towards the back. Once parked she gets out of the car and admires the Hatchback. It was such a sweet ride, the only problem she noticed was the gas pedal sometimes being a tad too sensitive, but other than that Ari is very happy with her purchase. Giving the hood one final pat she heads towards the three-story building that is Tranquility High School, the white stone making it look more like a prison than a place for learning.

She doesn’t make it five steps before a large body is suddenly in front of her blocking her path. Her muscles automatically tense up from the close proximity and she takes a step back. Looking up she sees the cocky face of Trent DeMarco with his large arms crossed in front of his equally large chest.

“What’s up, Short Stuff?” he says haughtily, his eyes roaming up and down her body.

Ari’s hands tightly grasp the strap of her messenger bag crossed across her chest. “Leave me alone, Trent,” she says in a quiet voice.

“Aw, come on, Short Stuff, I just wanna talk.” He takes a step closer to her, causing Ari to take another step back.

“Well, I don’t want to talk. I just want to get to class. Don’t you have a girlfriend you should be talking to instead anyway?”

Trent moves his weight from one foot to the other in discomfort and tries to cover it up with an arrogant smile. “Nah, I, um, dumped her. She couldn’t keep up with the likes of me.”

Ari rolls her eyes. She decides to state the obvious, “You mean _she_ broke up with _you_.”

Trent stutters at her calling him out, trying to come up with a clever way to deny it but Ari cuts him off.

“And now you want to get into some other girl’s pants to get back at her. Sorry, but I’m really not interested in helping you with your revenge sex, so please, go ask someone else and leave me alone. I’m sure there are plenty of other girls who would be more than happy to help you.”

Two of Trent’s friends, Mark and Daniel, who had walked up with him snicker behind him while Trent just stands there with a deep blush on his face. Ari takes that as her cue and goes to move around him.

When she takes a step Trent’s humiliation turns to anger. He reaches a hand out to tightly grasp her wrist causing Ari to hiss in pain. His fingers are right around one of her fresh cuts.

He yanks her closer, towering over her five-foot-two frame, taking full advantage of the reason he calls her “Short Stuff” to glare down at her menacingly.

Ari cringes, trying to pull away, but he is so much stronger than her. He’s even stronger than Ron and she can almost never get away from her father when her safety depends on it.

“Don’t think for one second,” he grounds out darkly, “that you can embarrass me like that and get away with.”

A car suddenly revs loudly right next to them causing everyone to jump and turn, thinking they are about to get run over since they are still standing in the middle of the school parking lot.

What they see is Ari’s Hatchback still sitting stationary in its spot with its engine roaring almost angrily, headlights flashing as if a warning light, despite the car keys being in Ari’s front pocket.

Trent scowls at the car then at Ari before shoving her into the hood of her car. Ari barely manages to catch herself before she falls to the asphalt.

“Looks like the ugly retard needs to get her retarded car fixed,” Trent calls out patronizingly and he and his friends laugh at her before turning to leave.

The Hatchback growls again, almost in answer, and then all is silent. Ari sighs in relief.

 _That could have been bad. Why didn’t I just keep my big mouth shut? And then there’s my car._ She looks the Hatchback questioningly. _How in the world did you just turn on by yourself like that? Faulty wiring maybe?_

She contemplates the possibility that her car is alive, like Herbie, but that’s just a silly thought.

The first bell rings and Ari curses under her breath, the only thoughts left in her mind getting to her locker then to her first period class on time before the five minutes between bells is up.

* * *

 

The rest of the school day is uneventful, mostly just teachers going over what to expect on their exams and the finalizing of schedules for fall semester. Ari signed up for mostly AP courses to help her as much as possible to get into a good college.

After school is work at Hal’s Diner with the normal fifteen minute walk amounting to only a two minute drive thanks to the Hatchback.

Ari loves her car. Even if it decides to freak out on her every once in a while.

Once at Hal’s, however, things aren’t so cheery again.

It is an extremely busy afternoon, more so than usual, leaving Ari with barely enough time to breathe. Every time she even thinks about sitting down for just a second more customers come in that she has to get the orders from or more people leave and she has to bus the tables. Suffice to say, by the time seven rolls around Ari is ready to go home. All of her muscles, which were already aching from her bruises, now ache even more and several of her cuts are stinging again including the ones on her stomach. She hopes they haven’t reopened and are bleeding again.

But the worst thing about her day happens just when she is about to get off work. One of the other waitresses, a woman in her early fifties by the name of Lois, is getting swamped and falling behind. She asks Ari to help her out real quick and take the check over to a booth in the back, more secluded area of the diner usually inhabited by couples who are on dates and want some more privacy. Ari agrees with a small smile but once she sees who’s at the table her smile fades and she freezes in her tracks.

A bleach blonde girl is sitting in the booth with a skirt far too short than what is publicly appropriate and a lot of makeup on.

And she’s sitting with Trent DeMarco.

Ari gulps, remembering his threat from earlier.

“ _Don’t think for one second you can embarrass me like that and get away with it.”_

With great effort she forces her smile back on her face and goes up to the couple.

“Here is your check, sir,” she says with a slight tremble in her voice. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“No, we’re good here,” Trent says absentmindedly and Ari thinks she might be able to get away without him noticing. But as she begins to turn away he looks up. His eyes widen then gleam evilly. “Why, hello there, Short Stuff. I didn’t know you worked here.”

Ari wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans. “Yep. I work here.”

He doesn’t say anything else, just pulls out his wallet and hands her a credit card, probably something he took off of his dad.

All the while with a mischievous smile.

 _Well,_ she thinks to herself, _this can’t be good._

As Ari goes to the register to pay Trent’s bill with his card her mind tries to think up all of the things he could do to get back at her for that morning. But there really isn’t anything he can do in front of all these people, right?

She drags her feet back to Trent’s table and hands him back his card and receipt.

She smiles at him but it come out as more of a grimace. “Thank you and have a nice day.”

“No,” he says as he and his date rise from the booth, “you have a nice day.” Trent lifts up his half-empty glass of soda and ice. Before Ari even realizes what he’s doing, Trent dumps the contents over her head, soaking her hair, her work shirt, and the long-sleeved shirt she still wears underneath. Ari stands there with her mouth gaping open from the cold, shock, and utter disbelief.

The entire diner is quiet, all eyes staring right at her.

Trent penetrates the silence by dropping his plastic cup back onto the table, grabs the hand of his date, and walks out, both of them laughing all the way.

Ari wants to stop him, to grab him by the arm and give him and his bimbo Barbie doll a piece of her mind. She wants to thrash him out good so he will leave her alone once and for all.

But she can’t. Talking back, standing up for herself, all it ever leads to is more pain. She’s learned that plenty of times from her father. And this morning she didn’t stop herself from using her voice again. Look where it got her? It just goes to show that all talking ever does is make her life even more miserable.

“Oh my goodness, Ari, are you alright?” Lois exclaims, pulling everyone out of their stupor. Customers go back to their meals and Lois and Hal rush to Ari’s side. Lois grabs a bunch of napkins and starts wiping at Ari’s damp hair.

As soon as Lois touches her Ari snaps out of it as well. She jerks back, slapping the helping hand away, and yells “Don’t touch me!”

“Whoa, easy now,” Hal raises his hands in front of him, palms out, as if he’s trying to calm a spooked horse. “It’s alright, Ari, no one here is gonna hurt ya.”

He takes a few steps forward and Ari’s breathing accelerates. She knows he won’t hurt her, she really does, but her body just doesn’t want to listen. Not after what just happened. She’s in fight or flight mode now and she’s leaning very heavily towards the flight part.

“Ari, you’re soaked,” Hal says softly. “How about you come with me to the back and we get you some dry clothes to change into. How does that sound?”

He barely touches her arm with his fingertip and Ari snaps. “No!” she cries. “Just leave me alone!” As fast as she can Ari moves around Hal and Lois, throws her apron off, it landing somewhere on the floor in the general area of the wall hook it’s supposed to hang on, grabs her bag, and dashes out the door. She doesn’t slow down for a second, giving no one time to talk her down, to touch her, to push her into a corner. All Ari wants right now is to be alone.

_Why? Why me?_

She practically throws herself into the Hatchback, jams the key in the ignition, and blindly takes off down the road. She doesn’t know where she’s going. She’s barely even registering the cars driving beside her. All Ari knows is that she wants to get away.

_Why do these things always happen to me?_

Tears blur her eyes making it almost impossible to see.

_Am I really that useless?_

She hears horns honking at her angrily but at this point she doesn’t really care.

_Am I really that unwanted?_

She just doesn’t care.

_Would it be better if I just wasn’t here anymore?_

Ari starts to drift into oncoming traffic. Right towards a semi.

The steering wheel jerks to the right uncontrollably forcing her back into the right lane. Ari blinks a few times in confusion and tries to move the wheel to the left again but it won’t budge.

The semi passes by harmlessly.

Ari tries to turn the wheel again and nothing happens. With an angry huff she pulls harder. It still won’t move an inch.

“What the crap is going on here?” she says aloud, her previous misery being replaced with anger.

And then replaced with fear as the Hatchback speeds up exponentially and starts to weave in and out of traffic. The seatbelt that she forgot put on when she got in the car moves on its own across her body and buckles tightly into place.

Ari’s eyes widen. She lets go of the steering wheel and watches as it moves on its own.

The car is driving _on its own_.

Ari’s not quite sure how to feel about this.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	3. My Car Is Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got my first comment sometime last night so, as promised, here is another chapter.

_My car is alive my car is alive my car is alive…,_ Ari chants over and over again. The more she thinks it, the crazier she thinks she is. Because cars can’t be alive. They can’t just drive themselves. Sure, they can in the movies and maybe some spy out there has a car like that, but her car? Her Hatchback which she just bought from a used car lot?

“Oh, I know,” she says to herself as they pass the lake near the outskirts of town. “I really did hit that semi back there and now I’m in a coma or something. Yeah, this is all just a dream and I’m gonna wake up any minute now.”

Then again, if she’s in a coma from running into a semi that means she totaled the Hatchback and is in the hospital, bills Ron is going to have to pay or force her to pay herself.

And he’s going to give her the worst kind of torture once she’s back home and well enough to live through it.

Yeah, maybe having a car that’s alive isn’t such a bad thing after all.

The Hatchback jerks to the right going off-road to a small cliff overlooking the hilly grasslands that run in every direction. There isn’t a soul in sight. Not even a farmhouse. Just emptiness and the setting sun.

_Crap. If my car is alive, then how do I know it is a nice car that doesn’t want to kill me?_

They come to a stop next to a single, solitary tree. The seatbelt unclips itself and the driver’s side door opens on its own.

Well, at least it is letting her out.

Ari quickly gets out, tripping on her way and falling on her knees in the compact dirt. She scrambles to her feet and turns around, still walking away from the car until her back hits the tree.

“Okay, would somebody like to explain to me just what the crap is going on here?” she yells out as loud as she can.

The car just sits there, driver’s door still open, silent.

“Really? No one?” She takes in a deep breath. “If this is some kind of sick joke, then ha ha, very funny. You got me. Now, can you please stop all of this nonsense and just show yourself so I can go home?”

No one answers. No one who may be in the surrounding area, watching, listening, maybe holding some kind of remote control device.

No voice comes from the car either. She can’t decide if it’s a good thing or it means the car is thinking of a way to kill her and get rid of the body.

Ari starts to pace, her already frayed mind fraying even more. She’s becoming more and more freaked out and scared with each step she takes. After a few paces she stops and screams at the car, “Just tell me what you want! Why did you bring me out here? If you’re going to kill me, then just do it already!”

Inside the car, the radio comes to life, scanning stations until it settles on one. A song is just going into the intro, a song Ari knows well and really likes. It’s “The Last Night” by Skillet.

The first verse of the song starts and she stands there, listening, as the man and woman sing to each other back and forth in a duet that calls out to Ari’s soul.

**You come to me with scars on your wrist**  
You tell me this will be the last night  
Feeling like this

Ari runs her hands along her arms, holding herself, feeling her own scars underneath her still damp shirt. They may not be self-inflicted, but with what happened back there with the semi, she can’t help but make a comparison with herself and the girl in the song.

**I just came to say goodbye**  
Didn't want you to see me cry  
I'm fine

**But I know it's a lie**

**This is the last night you'll spend alone**  
Look me in the eyes so I know you know  
I'm everywhere you want me to be

**The last night you'll spend alone**  
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go  
I'm everything you need me to be

**Your parents say everything is your fault**  
But they don't know you like I know you  
They don't know you at all

**I'm so sick of when they say  
It's just a phase, you'll be okay, you're fine**

Ari’s throat begins to close up. Yes. Her father has said things like that to her many times.

**But I know it's a lie**

**This is the last night you'll spend alone**  
Look me in the eyes so I know you know  
I'm everywhere you want me to be

**The last night you'll spend alone**  
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go  
I'm everything you need me to be  
The last night away from me

**The night is so long when everything's wrong**  
If you give me your hand, I will help you hold on  
Tonight, tonight

**This is the last night you'll spend alone**  
Look me in the eyes so I know you know  
I'm everywhere you want me to be

**The last night you'll spend alone**  
I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go  
I'm everything you need me to be

**I won't let you say goodbye**  
And I'll be your reason why  
The last night away from me

**Away from me**

By the time the song ends and the radio turns itself off again tears are freely flowing from Ari’s pale blue eyes. “The Last Night” has always been a song to pull at her heart, but never more so than now.

She wishes she had someone to hold her, even though she can barely stand to be around other people, let alone be touched by them. She just wants someone to tell her everything is going to be alright.

The Hatchback makes an odd whirring sound, sounding both somehow sad and insistent at the same time.

Ari blinks the last of her tears away and wipes her face with her sleeve to give herself a clear view of the car again. She studies it for a few moments, contemplating.

_Maybe that’s why it did what it did. Why it…took control. Why it brought me all the way out here and why it played me that song. Maybe it’s trying to tell me that everything’s going to be okay?_

“Is that it?” she asks quietly. “Are you just trying to tell me everything’s going to be okay?”

Another whirr is her answer, sounding happy this time.

* * *

 

Sideswipe knows that if Optimus were here he would be in deep trouble right now, but he just doesn’t give a frag anymore.

The human girl, Ari, the one he and Sunstreaker are supposed to be protecting, had deliberately tried to offline them both. Granted, she didn’t know he was alive, but still. He could feel the purpose in her hands as they guided his steering wheel into the opposing lane.

He _had_ to do something. There was just no way around it. It was either take control or go splat against the hood of a semi at fifty-five miles per hour. Sideswipe isn’t even sure that, being a Cybertronian, even he would have survived a head-on collision like that.

But afterward. Driving her to that cliff. Playing her that song. Pit, basically talking to her even though he didn’t really say anything at all. That was way more than what he should have done.

Especially since now, with Ari back in his alt mode, in the passenger seat this time since she apparently felt creeped out siting in his driver seat with him driving, she is asking him a bunch of questions trying to get him to tell her who he is and why he’s here.

Basically everything Sideswipe is supposed to _not_ tell her until Optimus gets to Earth.

But she knows now that her car is not…normal. She knows he’s alive in some way, although she still doesn’t understand just how much alive he truly is. There’s no denying that anymore. Neither of them can just pretend none of that just happened.

So, if she’s already halfway to knowing the truth, then what is Sideswipe supposed to do now? Answer her questions, or leave her in the dark and ignore her until Optimus gets here in two days?

Perhaps his brother will know what to do.

_“Hey Sunny?”_ Sideswipe says through the bond. _“I may have done something I probably shouldn’t have.”_

He can feel Sunny’s irritation through the bond. _“Oh, slag, what did you do now? You didn’t talk to her, did you?”_

_“Well…”_ Sideswipe lets the sentence hang, unsure how to explain this to where it doesn’t sound like he completely disobeyed orders.

Sunstreaker waits for more, but when Sideswipe fails to go on he asks, _“Sides, you didn’t really do it, did you? Optimus told us not to.”_

_“Not…exactly…”_ He sighs and then decides to just get it over with and explain everything from the beginning, starting from the diner.

When he finishes, Sunstreaker asks, _“So who is this little fragger messing with your human?”_

_“‘My’ human? Don’t you mean ‘our’ human? You’re protecting her too you know.”_

_“Yeah, but I’m not the one getting all worked up over her. So, who is the human piece of slag from that diner place?”_

_“But what about what Optimus said? She knows, Sunny. She knows I’m not just a car.”_

Sides can practically feel Sunny rolling his optics. _“Oh please, Optimus would understand why you did what you did. It was all in the name of keeping her alive long enough for us to get what we need. I’m sure he’d understand.”_

_“That’s not the only reason I did it, Sunstreaker. She was hurting and I wanted to cheer her up and I couldn’t do that as just her car. And I actually_ want _her to know about me, about us. She’s more than just a means to an end. I-I want....”_ He doesn’t really know what he wants and is finding it hard to put it into words. _“I want to get to know her,”_ he finishes lamely, still not sounding quite right but it’s as close as he can get it.

_“Sideswipe, you can’t get too attached to these humans. They don’t live nearly as long as we do. You know that.”_

_“I know but…she feels…different. Special. Like she’s going to become a part of our lives more so than what we realize. And I need to protect her.”_

Sunny sighs. _“Whatever, just do what you gotta do. Either way, Optimus will understand. And it’s probably better for her to find out about us before she sees him anyway.”_

Sideswipe laughs. _“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks, Sunny.”_

_“Don’t mention it. Now, will you answer my question? Who was the human picking on her?”_

_“I think his name is Trent. He’s the same one she had a confrontation with this morning. I get the feeling this isn’t the first time he’s bullied her.”_

_“Well then. I thinks it’s time he got a piece of his own medicine.”_

If Sideswipe could smile in his alt mode he would right now. _“Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”_

_“You know I am. It’s time this human met the Kings of Pranks and we’ve been out of the game for far too long.”_

* * *

 

When the Hatchback arrives back at her house, “frustrated” can’t even begin to describe what Ari is feeling. Her car comes alive, kidnaps her, sings to her, makes weird noises at her, and then won’t answer any of her questions. She thought maybe he didn’t understand English, but he certainly understands enough to know what she is saying and to pick out a song to convey what he is trying to say. So why doesn’t he do the same now? Put together words from the radio like a kidnapper’s note and talk to her. Anything would be better than the silence of not knowing.

Ari gets out of the Hatchback and walks towards her house. She heads straight for the front door, almost not noticing that her father’s car is in the driveway. But she does, freezing with her hand inches from the door handle, her keys shaking in her hand.

Night surrounds her, the sun having set long ago, and crickets chirp happily in the bushes unaware of the turmoil boiling inside Ari’s stomach.

Her father is home.

And she is getting home way later than usual.

He is going to be so, so very angry.

The Hatchback whirrs behind her worriedly apparently having sensed her hesitation, or at least that’s what Ari guesses.

She looks back the car with a weak half-smile. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” She then gives the car her best attempt at a scowl despite the fear creeping up her spine. “And I expect some answers out of you later.”

With that, she unlocks the door and steps inside as silently as possible.

Her father is nowhere to be seen. He is not lounging on the couch watching football. He is not in the kitchen getting a beer. He is not passed out in some random place on the floor.

This only means one thing, and the thumping coming from upstairs proves it.

He brought home a girl tonight.

This is both good and bad for Ari. Good because it probably means that the woman was distracting enough to keep him from noticing exactly when Ari got home. Bad because their walls are paper thin and Ron and his lovers tend to get loud, so she’s going to be able to hear them go at it all night.

_But at least I don’t get beaten tonight,_ she thinks with a sad smile.

She quickly and silently heads up to her room already feeling tired enough to go to bed right now but not before checking on her eBay page. She has several items she is trying to sell on the website, most of it some of her great-great grandfather’s old seaman things, the proceeds going towards her college fund. Ari feels bad about selling the things he left behind but hopes he understands. The more money she can manage to get together, the easier she’ll be able to get away from her father by the time she graduates.

A loud moan echoes through the house, bouncing off of the high ceiling and down the hall to her room.

_Time to break out the iPod._

* * *

 

Pain. All Ari feels is pain. Each breath feels like someone is stabbing and cutting along every inch of her skin.

And someone is.

A laugh echoes in her ears, dark and menacing. She knows that laugh very well. Ari pushes her eyelids to open and they comply, barely, opening a small crack.

Her father stands over her crumpled body, draped in shadow, but she knows it’s him. He’s holding a knife dripping an angry crimson with blood. Her blood. It’s everywhere, not just on the knife. It’s all over his hands, his clothes, even his face.

Ron’s dark eyes dance with madness, relishing in her blood and the acts he’s wrought on her body.

“You are worthless, Arianna,” he says, his voice sinister. “You are unwanted. For the rest of your miserable life you will be hated. You are nothing but trash. An _insect_.” The last word comes out harsher, sounding almost…metallic.

In a swift movement her father crouches in front of her with the knife now plunged into her stomach.

A gurgling, choking sound makes its way out of Ari’s throat instead of the scream of agony it’s meant to be. Darkness starts to speckle at the sides of her vision but she manages to look down at the knife protruding from her stomach.

And the metal hand holding it.

Ari looks back up at her father in horror, only it’s not her father. It’s some sort of metal being with glowing red eyes.

The horrible monster snarls at her, flashing its pointed teeth. “Your entire species is unwanted and you’re all going to perish at my hands.”

* * *

 

Ari jolts up in bed with a gasp, her headphones falling out of her ears. Her eyes dart left and right as she tries to get her bearings back. She’s lying in bed where she must have eventually dozed off despite the antics of her father and his guest. Her iPod lies next to her, “The Last Night” by Skillet blasting through the ear buds still playing on repeat.

“It was just a dream,” she whispers to herself, rubbing her bare arms with her hands to try and stop the shaking. “It was just a dream.”

But it felt so real.

Creaking, thumping, and the occasional moan of pleasure continues to filter down the hallway into Ari’s ears.

A quick glance at the clock tells her it’s only a little after midnight.

Ari gets out of bed, throwing on a dark blue hoodie and a pair of gray sweatpants overtop of her tank top and shorts and pulls on her Converses. She’s not going to be able to fall back to sleep anytime soon. Not after that dream. And she doesn’t want to stay in the house with those people making those noises just a few rooms down. Her iPod can only do so much for her at this point.

She slides her window open and carefully steps onto the roof of the back porch. There is a large oak tree right next to the house with some large branches close enough for Ari to carefully climb onto. She then makes her way from tree branch to tree branch with practiced ease until she is close enough to jump down to the ground with a soft thump. Normally when her father has “company” over and she can’t stand to be inside she would hang out in the backyard or even go for a walk if she knew she wouldn’t be missed anytime soon. However, there is somewhere else she wants to be at the moment.

Ari approaches the Hatchback still parked at the front of the house. She tries to unlock the passenger door with her key but her hands are still shaking. Every time she gets near the lock her hand causes the key to bounce out of alignment with the keyhole.

_Deep breaths, Ari, take deep breaths. It was just a dream. Your father isn’t going to all of a sudden stab you and he isn’t going to turn into a metal monster. You’re fine. You’re safe. Everything is going to be okay._

But why doesn’t it feel like it?

The door pops open by itself causing Ari to jump back in surprise.

Right. Car is alive. So that wasn’t part of her dream too.

She runs a finger along the top of the car door with the barest of touches. A sort of thrum of energy, almost like a static shock, flows into her hand. She’s felt it a few times before but always thought it was just the hum of the engine. She never would have guessed it to mean her car is alive.

Ari runs her hand along the door again and the car actually shudders slightly, like a contented purr of a cat being scratched in just the right place. She smiles a little.

She knows she should be scared of this thing whose intentions she does not know, but for some reason Ari feels really safe with her not-so-ordinary car. If anything, she feels like something important, something big, is about to happen. Whether it’s going to be good or bad, that remains to be seen.

But Ari knows she won’t have to go through it alone. Her Hatchback will be with her, watching over her. She just knows it. It protected her today, after all.

She sits down in the passenger seat of the car and before she can even think of reaching for it the door closes by itself. Wiggling back into the plush leather seats Ari finally relaxes for once, all of the tension leaving her body as the feeling of safety washes over her.

“So,” she begins, figuring now is as good a time as any to try asking more questions, “you have a name or am I going to have to keep calling you Hatchback?”

There is silence for a long moment, so long Ari begins to think the car isn’t going to answer her. She lets out a frustrated huff.

“Sideswipe,” a voice Ari has never heard before says from the speakers of the car. “My name is Sideswipe. Or Sides for short if you want.” The voice is normal, not a song and not patchwork phrases like she was expecting, but an actual voice belonging to the actual car, belonging to Sideswipe. It throws her for a minute, making her realize that this car may be more intelligence than she originally thought. And it’s not just a remote controlled car. No, from what’s she’s seen of Sideswipe so far, Ari is almost certain that isn’t the case.

“Um,” she looks around not really sure exactly what to face while talking to the car…it…him? Yes, him, the voice is definitely male, and it didn’t sound much older than her either. Late teens, early twenties at the most. She shrugs, figuring the radio is as good a place as any. “Hello, Sideswipe, my name is Ari. Ari Witwicky. Are you finally going to talk to me now?”

“We are already talking.”

She rolls her eyes. “I mean answer my questions, smart-aleck. Have you finally decided to give me some real answers?”

Sideswipe sighs, a puff of air blowing out of the ac vents and into Ari’s face. “Yes, I have. You already know I’m not just a car and you’re going to find out eventually anyway. So I figured might as well. Although I’m not sure the others will see it the same way.”

“There are more like you? And what _are_ you exactly? I mean, besides a car. Are you like Herbie?”

“What’s a Herbie?”

Ari raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know Herbie? You know, the movie?”

“I only had so much time to look things up on the internet. I got Earth’s languages and other necessary basics I needed to know about humans and this planet, but I haven’t had a chance to watch any of your ‘movies.’”

_Earth. Humans. This planet. The way he talks…does that mean what I think it means?_

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that you’re…not from Earth? Like an alien?”

“Yep,” he says cheerfully.

Ari’s eyes widen, her mouth falling open in a small O shape. Alien. He’s an alien. And there are more of them. Coming here.

What happened to little green men?

“Uh, Ari, you okay?”

“Yeah,” she squeaks. “Yeah, just…trying to process. It’s kind of mind blowing to suddenly have one of the universe’s biggest mysteries answered.” She wipes a hand along her face, looking around her in a new light. She’s not just sitting inside a car. She’s in an alien. “So, do all aliens look like cars?”

Sideswipe laughs. “Yes and no. This is what we call an alternate mode, or alt mode for short. I have a bipedal mode which is what I normally look like.”

“So you can…transform. Will you show me?”

Sides shifts slightly on his wheels in a way Ari imagines to be the equivalent of a person shifting on their feet uncomfortably.

She scrunches her brow in confusion. “You don’t want to show me?”

“No, no, I really do,” he answers quickly. “It’s just here may not be the best place for that. I would kind of…stand out. And….”

“And?”

“I…don’t want to…freak you out.”

Ari’s mind flashes back to her dream with the metal monster with the burning eyes. “Is your bipedal mode really that frightening?”

“Most humans might think so,” he says quietly. “It’s not exactly something humans normally see every day. Scaring you is the last thing I want to do.”

She places a hand on the dash. “Well, you won’t scare me off that easily. I’ve seen and been through scarier things before. Trust me.”

“Like what?”

Ari knows his curiosity is normal, especially after everything he’s witnessed, but she still can’t help but pull her hand away as if he burned her. She places her feet on her seat, wrapping her arms around her legs and drawing her knees towards her chest.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sides asks, sensing her withdrawal into herself.

“Nothing,” she replies, voice devoid of emotion. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

She knows Sides wants to ask more but, thankfully, he lets it pass. “Okay, then do you want to ask some more of your questions now?”

Ari nods as she wracks her brain. So many questions were flying around her mind earlier and now it’s difficult to pick just one. Deciding to start off simple she asks, “What are you exactly? What are you called?”

“We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron...”

Ari asks question after question for the next hour, from learning about the different alt modes the Cybertronians can transform into, to what their bipedal forms are like, to what they eat, to what their familial structures are like (at this point finding out about his twin, Sunstreaker), to what their home planet looks like. When talking about Cybertron Sideswipe sounds kind of sad. Why, Ari doesn’t know. She wonders if something happened to it, like how pollution is slowly eating away at Earth, but decides not to ask. He didn’t ask about her problems. She won’t ask about his.

When Ari lets out her fifth yawn in the past three minutes Sideswipe laughs. “Alright, I think it’s about time you go and get some recharge. You have school in the morning.”

“But you were,” she yawns again, “just about to tell me some of the pranks you and Sunny like to pull.”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Maybe you can even meet Sunny, too.”

“‘Kay, sounds good.” Sideswipe opens her door for her but Ari hesitates in getting out. She’s afraid to go back inside. Afraid of her father. And afraid of having that nightmare again.

**This is the last night you’ll spend alone**

Biting her lip she looks back towards the radio. “Hey, Sides?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it…can I…maybe…stay out here with you?” She looks down at her hands in her lap, her fingers twisting together. “I don’t want to be alone,” she whispers.

Another thrum of energy, comforting and soothing, flows into Ari’s skin from the leather seat and the door closes softly. “Of course, Ari.”

Sideswipe leans her seat back as far as it will go and Ari curls up on her side with a small smile and a contented sigh. “Thanks.”

“Do you want me to wake you in the morning?”

Ari’s eyes are already beginning to droop but she manages to mumble, “Yeah, around 6:30 please.” Before her eyes close all the way another question pops into her head. “Hey Sideswipe?”

“Yes, Ari?”

“Why did you decide to become my car? Why me?”

He sighs. “Perhaps that’s a question best answered some other time. No go to sleep.”

She wants to argue but is too tired to. “Alright. Goodnight Sideswipe.”

“Goodnight Ari.”

And then she falls into the deepest, most pleasant sleep she’s had in a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	4. The Beginning of the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promise at least a chapter a week. And it's Sunday. Technically, it's the beginning of another week.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read/kudos/commented this story so far. You're support is awesome.
> 
> This chapter we start getting into more movie stuff. For movies, I try to avoid just repeating what happened in the movies unless it's extremely important for the plot and unavoidable. But again, this is really AU so it's not too much of a problem, I think.

A song blasts at full volume causing Ari to lurch awake, heart pounding, still too groggy to comprehend anything but the very loud noise and a slight stiffness in her neck. She shifts her neck form side to side until she feels a few audible pops that relieve the tension. Rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes she then looks around, realizing she is still in the Hatchback where she fell asleep in the early morning hours of the night.

Correction, she fell asleep in _Sideswipe_. Who is an _alien_ posing as her car.

_And I thought my life couldn’t get any more different._

Music still blasts from the speakers which she now recognizes as “Awakening” by Switchfoot. Sides may not have been on Earth long but, Ari admits, he already has good taste in music.

Although that does not excuse almost blowing her eardrums off.

Ari pushes the power button on the radio and everything goes blissfully silent. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure she would have been able to do that but she’s glad it worked. There’s only so much she can handle so early in the morning.

“Good morning, Ari,” Sideswipe says cheerily, an obvious morning person.

“Morning, Sides,” she replies far less enthusiastically. “Thank for waking me up. Though next time can you please not do it so _loudly_?”

“What? You didn’t like my wakeup call?” There is a definite tone of mischievousness.

“Oh, I see how it is.” She cracks a half-smile. “No new paint job for you then.”

Sideswipe sinks on his tires. “Whaaaat? Aw, come on, Ari, don’t be like that. I look disgusting like this. Do you have any idea how annoying Sunstreaker has been making fun of my paint job? He says I look like a piece of slag that’s been left in a junkyard to rust.”

Ari laughs, the natural display of amusement sounding foreign to her ears. How long has it been since she last laughed? “I’m just kidding, Sides. And you really don’t look that bad.”

Sideswipe is silent for a few moments, making Ari believe she may have hurt his feelings and she opens her mouth to apologize.

“You have a beautiful laugh,” he says suddenly. Ari closes her mouth in shock with a clack as her teeth snap together. “And your eyes sparkle really bright when you smile.”

Ari blushes a deep scarlet. “Thank you,” she says quietly and opens Sideswipe’s door. “I should probably go in and get ready for school.”

“Right, school!” he says excitedly. “Yes, go hurry up. We need to make sure you get there on time.”

She looks at him suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. I was with you all night. Now Sunny, on the other hand, well…let’s just say you’re about to get a glimpse of the work of the Kings of Pranks.”

_Who else besides me does Sideswipe and Sunstreaker know enough to pull a prank on?_ Ari wonders as she climbs back up the tree to her bedroom. According to Sideswipe they haven’t been on Earth for very long. Sideswipe has basically been with her the entire time.

_Guess I’ll just have to hurry up and get to school to find out._

All is silent as Ari stands in her room, listening for where in the house her father might be and what he is doing. Taking the silence to mean Ron and the woman he brought home are still asleep she gets ready for school. Hopefully they won’t wake up before she leaves. It’s always awkward to meet her father’s flings if they decide to go downstairs for breakfast, especially since the girls he brings home usually look creepily similar to her mom. And she won’t have to find out if Ron noticed her late arrival last night or not.

Twenty minutes later Ari is creeping past her father’s bedroom door. Loud snores, like a leaf blower, leak out from behind the wooden barrier. The woman’s snores. Ron is a silent sleeper.

Down the stairs. Past the kitchen, her father’s study. The doorway leading to the living room.

“Stop right there,” a deadly quiet voice says. Ari stops, all of her muscles locking up, and turns towards the living room couch.

There sits Ron, beer already in hand and three-quarters of the way empty. He must have been up for a while. Probably his date woke him up with her snores. Gulping, Ari stands a few feet away, slightly turned towards the door just in case.

“Did you think,” he takes a swig of the beer, “that I wouldn’t notice?”

“N-notice what?” she asks, voice quivering despite her attempts to steady it.

“Last night. That you were late getting home.” He gulps down the rest of the beer and stands, approaching Ari with slow, heavy steps. “So where were you last night?”

With every step Ron takes Ari takes a step back towards the door. “I-I was at w-work.”

“No you weren’t. You get off at 7. I got home with Abby at 7:30. You didn’t show up for about another half hour. And that piece of crap diner you work at ain’t that far from here.” Ari’s entire body is shaking now. He smirks. “That’s right, I heard you when you got home. So tell me. Where did you run off to?”

Ari shuffles back a few more steps wondering if she can make it to the door before he grabs her. She can’t tell Ron about Sideswipe. He wouldn’t believe her and then he would beat her again for making up stories. And even if she did ask Sideswipe to show him…well…Ari just doesn’t trust her father with this kind of secret. She knows he’d do something terrible, both for her and for Sides.

“I won’t ask you again, girl.” Ron raises his hand holding the beer bottle by the neck, ready to throw.

The doorknob digs into her spine as she backs into the door. There’s maybe ten feet between her and Ron now. “I-I just went for a drive. That’s all. Out towards the lake.” Her hand slowly reaches behind her, searching for the knob. When she finds it she unlocks the door hoping her father doesn’t hear the click.

“Don’t you lie to me!” Ron yells, throwing the beer bottle towards her head. Ari dodges to the left while still gripping the doorknob. The bottle hits the door, an explosion of glass that sends shards flying everywhere. As she straightens she turns the knob and flings the door open, heading straight for Sideswipe. She doesn’t bother to get her keys out, just touches the handle of the driver’s side door. The door unlocks for her and she gets in.

Ron stomps after her down the driveway. “Arianna Samantha Witwicky, you get back here! Don’t think you can just run away from me. You know you can’t!”

“Ari, what’s going on?” Sideswipe asks confusedly. The seatbelt winds itself around Ari’s body and clicks into place. She can feel a gentle thrum of energy and a slight squeeze from the belt, his best attempt at a hug.

However, Ari doesn’t take her eyes off of her approaching father, shaking in fear. “Just get us out of here, Sideswipe. Please!”

The engine roars to life, the shifter going into reverse, and they squeal out of the driveway down the road towards the school.

“Ari?” Sideswipe asks as he weaves in and out of traffic going much faster than Ari would have liked but her mind is still too enveloped in fear and adrenalin to notice. They arrive at Tranquility High, still relatively early thanks to Sides’s speeding, and he pulls into a parking spot. “Ari, come on, snap out of it.” He squeezes the belt around her tighter. “You’re safe with me. It’s alright. You’re okay.”

Ari grips the seatbelt with both hands tightly, unsure if she is hurting him, but needing something to hold on to, to ground herself. Taking a deep breath in through her nose and releasing it slowly out of her mouth, she tries to get her frantic heartbeat back under control. After a few calming minutes she says, “I’m fine.”

“What was that back there, Ari?” Sideswipe asks worriedly. “Why was your parental unit so mad at you and-” the engine suddenly revs loudly, making Ari and a few passing students jump, “And why are you bleeding?” he finishes angrily.

Brow ruffled in confusion she looks down at her body. On her right arm are two jagged tears in her green long-sleeved shirt, the edges streaked with blood. Cursing under her breath she pushes her sleeve up to see the two new cuts in her skin. She winces, seeing the wounds making her body finally register the pain. With a sigh Ari reaches for her bag, which thankfully ended up in the passenger’s seat in her rush, and pulls out her first aid kit, mechanically going through the motions of cleaning the cuts and applying disinfectant. Seeing as how they are fairly shallow and not needing stitches she wraps them in gauze. Satisfied with her work she puts everything away and pulls her blue hoodie out. She’s going to have to wear it today since her shirt is now ruined.

“Ari?” Sideswipe asks, his voice strangely quiet.

“Yes, Sideswipe?” Ari says, striving for nonchalant, as she puts on her jacket. She knows what he wants to ask, but she can’t tell him. She just can’t. Every time she tries to tell someone, whether successful or not, Ron always finds out. She doesn’t know how but he always does. She probably gives it away somehow since lying has never been her strong suite. And either way, Sideswipe just…he won’t understand. He won’t understand how she can be so weak. How she can’t fight back. He’ll think of her as weak and disgusting. Sure, he’ll pity her, but she doesn’t want his pity. That just reminds her even more how she’s so useless. And then he’ll leave her. Yes, he’ll leave her for sure.

Sideswipe whirrs, a sad, low sound. “Why was your father yelling at you, why are there cuts on your arms, and where did you get those scars?” Ari winces, looking down at her lap. She forgot about her scars. Now he’s not only seen her father angry, but her scars too. “What…what happened to you?”

Ari bites her lip, shaking her head furiously.

“You won’t tell me?” Ari hates the hurt she can hear in Sides’s voice but what else can she do?

She shakes her head again.

He sighs, air blowing out of the vents long and cold. Ari waits for him to yell at her, to get angry for not wanting to tell him the truth, but what he says throws her.

“Alright,” he says calmly.

She blinks in surprise, her head slowly rising to look at the radio. “W-what?”

“I said alright. You don’t have to tell me.”

“You…you’re not mad?”

“Of course not, Ari. I mean…I’m worried about whatever this is, and I do wish you’d tell me, but if you don’t want to tell me about it now, then that’s okay. You can tell me when you’re ready. Just know that I’m here for you, alright?”

She smiles, small and soft. “Okay.” She pets the steering wheel gently. “Thank you, Sideswipe. For being understanding.”

“No problem. Now, let’s move on to something that will really make your day.”

Ari is confused as to what he means but then remembers their earlier conversation. “Oh yeah. You said that you pranked someone? Who did you prank?”

“Well, you can see him from here. Look at the flag pole.”

Sideswipe parked them close to the front of the school so all she has to do is lean forward in her seat a little in order to get a good look at the flag pole. What she sees makes her jaw fall open and nearly snap off. There, at the very top of the flag pole, is not the stars and stripes, but Trent DeMarco hanging from the rope.

By his boxers. And he’s wearing nothing else.

Trent flails around wildly, his muffled cries for help mutely filtering into Sideswipe’s interior. There’s a pretty sizeable crowd formed at the base of the pole. The principal and a couple of janitors are at the moment setting up a ladder to get Trent down while everyone else is either trying to smother giggles or laughing outright.

Ari herself is quickly morphing from shock to endless laughter so hard tears are coming to her eyes.

“Oh my gosh, Sideswipe,” she calls in-between laughing fits. “This is hilarious. Oh how I can’t wait to hear about the other pranks you and Sunny have pulled.” A few more chuckles escape but then Ari manages to pull herself back together, wiping tears from her eyes.

“I’m glad you like it,” Sideswipe says, obviously proud of himself and ego inflated. Even though she knows Sunstreaker probably did all of the work, but whatever. This was priceless.

“I have to ask, though, why did you guys decide to prank Trent DeMarco?”

“Because of what he did to you yesterday,” he says, his voice suddenly serious and cold. “He deserves far worse, but we’ve sworn never to harm any living beings. So this was the best we could do.”

Ari doesn’t know what to say. She’s had to deal with Trent’s antics most of her life all by herself. She’s had to deal with _everything_ all by herself. No one was ever there for her. No one ever cared.

Until now. Until Sideswipe.

Tears form in Ari’s eyes for an entirely different reason now.

“Hey, hey, don’t cry,” Sideswipe says, panicking. “Did we do something wrong? Should we not have done this? You don’t hate us, do you?”

She chuckles but it sounds more like a cough. “No, of course not, Sides, it’s just…no one has ever done anything like this for me before. Or treated me so much like a friend.”

“Well, you are my friend, silly. And you may not know Sunny yet, and he may be a hardaft to get through to, but he’ll come around eventually. Honestly, not many bots can successfully become his friend, but I’m sure you can.”

Ari’s throat hitches. “Do…do you really mean that? Am I really your friend?”

“Yeah, of course.” He says it so casually, like it’s the most obvious, normal thing in the world, but to Ari it is nothing short of a miracle. No one has ever wanted to become her friend, not since her mom left. Not since the beating started. When she brought friends over to her house after school her father would scare them off. They then avoided her after that. Eventually, everyone did. She hasn’t had a friend in a long, long time.

Her heart warms gently, like a piece of her is getting put back together again. She leans forward to hug the steering wheel as best she can and then kisses it.

“Thanks, Sideswipe,” she says softly, and then she grabs her stuff, hops out, and heads towards the school.

_Today is going to be an amazing day. I can already tell._

* * *

 

School flies by faster than usual. It’s the second-to-last day before final exams. By this time none of the teachers really have anything for their students to do unless any of them want a little more review. Ari basically reads one of the few books she owns all day. It’s _The Angel Experiment_ by James Patterson. The first in the Maximum Ride series. She absolutely adores it but has never ventured to get the rest of the books, always too afraid Ron will catch her trying to bring the books home and take them from her. There’s a reason why she hides most of her things in the back of her closet.

But after school, it is the beginning of the end. The end of what she knows as normal. The end of everything Ari once knew.

Sideswipe is taking Ari to work at the diner and they’re sitting at a traffic light listening to Three Days Grace. They’re a couple of cars back from the traffic light, waiting for it to turn green, when a cop car drives up beside them. He stops in his lane about a car length ahead of them giving Ari a good look of the car. It’s a very sweet ride, although she would never know what kind of car it is, but it’s a lot nicer than what most cop cars in Tranquility look like.

But it’s what’s written on the side of the car that catches Ari’s attention.

Written on the black paint in white letters above the rear tire are the words “to punish and enslave.”

_That’s…odd. Whatever happened to “to serve and protect”? Is this some kind of joke?_

Ari squints at the car, her pale blue eyes roaming over every inch she can see. Towards the front of the car, instead of a police logo inside of the shield, is an odd head that is strangely familiar. Her eyes widen as she realizes that it reminds her of the head on Sideswipe’s steering wheel, only with sharper angles and somehow more menacing.

She has a bad feeling about this.

“Uh, Sideswipe?” she asks. “Does that cop car seem kind of…off to you?”

He is silent, observing the car Ari suspects, but then the seatbelt wraps more firmly around Ari’s form. She can practically feel his anger and tension radiating through her seat.

She strokes the steering wheel soothingly. “Sides? What’s wrong? Do you…do you know that cop car? Is he like you?”

“No,” Sideswipe growls, his voice never before having sounded so full of hate. “That’s Barricade. He is nothing like me and Sunny. He’s a Decepticon.”

Well, that doesn’t sound good. “A Decepticon? What’s that?”

“We haven’t gotten a chance to talk about this yet, but it has to do with why we had to leave Cybertron and why we’re on Earth now. Long ago Cybertronians divided into two groups: Autobots, who want to protect all life and help guide other planets to prosperity, and Decepticons, who want nothing more than total destruction and to rule over every living creature in the universe.”

Nope. Not good at all.

“And you’re saying that that cop,” she gulps, “he’s one of the Decepticons?”

“Yes, Ari. And he’s after you.”

Ari’s face drains of all color. “M-me? Why me?”

“Look, I can’t explain this all now. If he hasn’t noticed us already, then he will once this light turns green. We’re going to have to make a run for it. Hopefully lose him in the city.”

“Can you outrun him?”

“In this form, I’m not sure. I’m known for my speed but this car, compared to Barricade’s, was made a lot slower because it’s older. I can push it far past its original capabilities but it may not be enough.”

“Then what do we do? What if…what if he catches us? What’s going to happen to me?”

A burst of energy shoots into Ari from the seat, comforting and protective. “That’s _not_ going to happen. My brother and I will make sure of it. I’ve already contacted him. He’s nearby and ready to give us backup if we need it.”

The light turns green. Cars start to move forward.

The cop car does not.

“Are you ready for this?” Sideswipes asks, engine revving, ready to take off at full speed.

“Not really but we’re going anyway,” she replies shakily while gripping the sides of her seat with both hands.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got ya, Ari.” Once enough cars have moved ahead of them and dispersed Sideswipe steps on the accelerator, the tires squealing against the asphalt and literally burning rubber, she can smell it. The force slams Ari into the back of her seat as they speedily pull ahead of the cop car and weave around cars at dangerous speeds north of 100.

The cop car turns on its sirens and chases after them, never leaving the rearview mirror.

Whatever happens now, all she can do is hold on tight and trust in Sideswipe.

The chase lasts a long time stretching into almost every part of the city. Every now and then other cop cars join them, thinking the Decepticon really is a cop chasing criminals, but eventually they pull back being unable to keep up at these speeds.

After a couple of fasts turns and ducking between buildings they lose Barricade for a little while. Sideswipe drives underneath an overpass where a lot of old abandoned cars are parked, a place that looks like it tends to often house a lot of homeless squatters at night but is deserted now.

Sideswipe comes to a sudden stop, the only thing keeping Ari from banging her head against the steering wheel being the seatbelt, and opens the driver’s side door.

“Get out,” he says urgently.

“What?” Ari looks at the radio, horrified. “You’re just going to leave me here?”

Sides sighs impatiently. “No, I want you to get out and hide while I lure him away. Sunstreaker is coming to get you and we’ll all meet up again later when I’ve lost Barricade for good, one way or another.”

The seatbelt pulls away from Ari’s body and she gets out, though uneasily. She doesn’t like this plan. So much can go wrong. What if Barricade is too much for Sideswipe? What if he gets hurt? If Sunstreaker is busy taking care of her, then Sideswipe is left by himself to fight Barricade if it comes to that. They _should_ just leave her here. They should go fight Barricade off together.

But before she can say anything Sideswipe is already accelerating away from her.

“Stay safe,” she whispers after him and then goes to hide among the abandoned cars, crouching behind an old white minivan.

Ari strains her ears until she can no longer hear the roar of Sideswipe’s engine. Then there is only the sound of the passing cars driving on the overpass overhead to fill the silence. In the distance a dog barks, frantic and insistent, and Ari wonders what it is barking at. _It’s probably just a squirrel, Ari. Hopefully just a squirrel._

Soon the sound of a car approaching bounces off of the concrete and between cars. _So it wasn’t just a squirrel. Okay, don’t freak out, Ari. It’s just Sunstreaker. Sideswipe said he was coming. That’s it, it’s just Sunny. Or maybe even Sideswipe is coming back. Yeah, that would be nice. That would mean he got rid of Barricade already and everything is fine now._

She peeks her head out from behind the van to see the cop car slow down and creep down the aisle of cars. Ari’s heart hammers in her chest. He’s searching. Searching for her. At least it means he doesn’t know exactly where she is yet.

But what happened to Sideswipe?

Ari closes her eyes and shifts back behind the van, waiting for the Decepticon to pass her hiding spot, praying he won’t notice her.

An odd sound reaches her ears like metal parts shifting around on some sort of machine. After a second of deliberation Ari sticks her head back out to get a look. What she sees astounds her.

The cop car…it just…stands up.

The car is breaking apart, folding in on itself, and then expanding. Recognizable forms start to appear. Ari can see what look like arms attached to hands with two of the car’s wheels on them and long, claw-like fingers. She notices legs next, as the car gets up on its feet, legs that lead up to a large chest that is made up of the front of the car.

And lastly a head. A head with glowing red eyes.

It’s Barricade, in his bipedal form that Sideswipe told her about, and she has to admit, it is a lot scarier than what she imagined. Although, that could just be because its red eyes are staring straight at her and the fact that he is charging towards her now with the apparent intent of crushing her. Ari scrambles to her feet and backs away just as the metal monster sweeps away the van she had been hiding behind with his arm as easily as if it had been a toy. He then does the same thing to her, ramming his arm painfully into her side, sending her flying through the air to land on the hood of a car twenty feet away causing the windshield to fracture with the force of the impact. Ari hisses in pain, already feeling bruises forming on her skin, possibly even bruised ribs as well. Ron had given her similar blows more than once in the past but never had it hurt quite as much as this.

Barricade charges at her again, the ground vibrating with every step, arm raised, but never makes it to her. A flash of yellow collides into Barricade from the right sending the two forms tumbling away. Ari blinks a few times in shock as another Cybertronian grapples with Barricade, this one yellow with blue eyes.

Ari instantly recognizes the mech from what Sideswipe has told her about his brother. Sunstreaker. She breathes a sigh of relief and then gingerly gets up off of the car she landed on. After a few steps the pain recedes into a dull ache.

“Don’t just stand there, idiot!” a voice yells. Ari looks over to see Sunstreaker staring at her, now standing off against Barricade, the two circling each other like a pair of wolves. “Run, idiot, run!”

_Great. I just met him and Sunny already thinks I’m an idiot._ But she does what she’s told and runs in the opposite direction out from underneath the overpass and towards the street.

Ari hears another car approaching, dreading it to be another Decepticon, but then Sideswipe comes into view speeding towards her. The earth vibrates again and Ari knows she is being followed. She urges her legs to go faster. Sideswipes puts on his breaks with a loud squeal, swerving so that his side is facing her. The passenger’s side door opens and Ari jumps in without slowing down. The door closes behind her, the seatbelt buckles, and Sideswipe takes off again. Still breathing heavily Ari looks behind them. Barricade is running after them still in his bipedal form. Sunstreaker, with a few new dents in his armor, runs up behind him and tackles the Decepticon to the ground. Not long after Sideswipe turns a corner and the battle is out of sight.

“Well,” Ari says once she has her breath back and faces the front again. “That didn’t exactly go according to plan. What now?”

“We get somewhere out of sight,” Sides says, “somewhere abandoned.”

“And then what?”

“And then we fight. No more running.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	5. The Last Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a really good day today so here is another chapter.
> 
> FYI, the attempted rape mentioned in the tags happens this chapter. Nothing too graphic, more of a molestation really, but I just though I should warn you.

It’s not long until Barricade is hot on their trail again. They are in the heart of the city on their way to someplace deserted. Ari suggested the construction site on the other side of town. The sun is beginning to set so the workers should all be long gone by the time they get there.

However, Barricade is closing in on them with each car they pass. His superior speed and maneuverability is going to have him catch up to them before they get anywhere even remotely deserted. And he probably doesn’t care about harming innocent humans caught in the crossfire. As soon as he is close enough he is going to transform and take them down.

Ari bites her lip. “Sideswipe, what are we going to do?”

“Slaggit,” he growls. “I need more speed but this car is just not gonna cut it…wait…I think I see something that will work just nicely.” Ari can hear the smile in his voice and wonders what he sees but before she can ask Sides is telling her to hang on.

“Why do I need to- holy crap!” With no other warning Sideswipe tilts onto two wheels so that his undercarriage is exposed to the opposing lane. Ari hangs onto the handle above her door for dear life as she precariously tries to stay in her seat. There is a flash of light and then they are on all four wheels again. She lets out a huff, part relief and part irritation. But then something really strange happens. All around Ari Sideswipe starts to…change, both inside and out. His interior changes to something smoother, more expensive. The exterior becomes sleeker, thinner, and the paint job changes from the red with black racing stripes to a solid, shinning silver. The entire car now looks brand new and modern, nothing like the outdated Hatchback. She strokes Sideswipe’s new steering wheel in wonder. “Uh, what just happened?”

“Saw a sweet Corvette Sting Ray coming our way so I scanned it. This is now my new alt mode. What do you think?”

She smiles. “This is absolutely amazing.”

“I knew you would like it,” he says proudly. “Now hold on tight!” Sideswipe suddenly gains speed, sending Ari back against her seat. They are going much faster than before and a quick look in the rearview mirror shows Barricade steadily falling behind.

Ari laughs in delight, the drive through the city feeling like a roller coaster ride, though she hasn’t been on one of those in years. Not since her mom left. Still, she remembers the rush of adrenalin and excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach. When they approach the construction site a few minutes later just as the last rays of sunlight disappear below the horizon Ari is almost disappointed that they can’t just keep going.

But the sound of metal shifting soon reminds her of why they were fleeing so fast. Ari turns in her seat to see Barricade transform into his bipedal form and leap at them. Sideswipe steps on the brakes in time for the Decepticon to fly overhead and land on the ground in front of them. Sideswipe skids to a halt to let Ari out. She backs away slowly as he, too, transforms into his bipedal form.

Ari watches Sideswipe in awe as he begins to fold and unfold into something more humanoid and stands up on his feet. No, he stands up on his _wheels_. Where feet would normally be are two of his tires so that it’s like he has on one-wheeled roller blades. He is all glistening silver, lean metal, and the bluest blue eyes, or optics, Ari has ever seen.

“Wow,” Ari can’t help but whisper aloud.

Sideswipe flashes her a cocky grin and then lifts his fists in front of him. From the tops of both of his wrists pops out twin blades a good six feet long and deadly sharp. “Yeah, I know I’m awesome. Now run!”

Ari rolls her eyes and then turns tail just as Sides takes the first swipe at the Decepticon. She hears feet running behind her and looks back, thinking that maybe the construction site wasn’t as abandoned as she thought, but it is not a human running after her. It is a weird, very human-like Cybertronian about the size of a child.

And he’s chasing after her with devious intent in his red optics and one hand transformed into a saw.

Ari faces forward and puts on more speed with added urgency. Seeing a tool shed off to her right near the fence she runs towards it. Just before she makes it to the door the mini Decepticon jumps on her back. Ari screams as she tumbles to the ground rolling onto her back with the bot straddling her midsection. The Decepticon aims the saw at her throat but she catches his arm, holding him back. The bot is strong despite his childlike size. But Ari has had to fight off worse. With the bot’s arm held firmly in both of her hands she pushes back, bending his arm to where she wants it to go, using its own saw to cut off its head. The head falls to the ground beside her and wiggles around, still very much alive, but the body goes limp. She pushes it off of her, gets up, and gives the Decepticon’s head a swift kick, sending it flying.

Ari is just looking for her bag, which got discarded sometime when Sideswipe let her out before he transformed, when tires screech behind her followed by the sound of shifting metal again. She groans. “What now?”

She turns to see a yellow version of Sideswipe come rolling up on his wheeled feet, his own blades drawn as he rushes into battle to help Sides. Sunstreaker really is Sideswipe’s twin, they look alike in almost every detail except Sunny is painted a golden yellow and has different blades. His are attached at the side of his wrists from where they curve outward beyond his fist about three feet, and also curve back along the length of his forearm where they connect again near his elbow. They look just as wicked as Sideswipe’s, perfect for close combat.

And the way Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fight together. It is almost like a dance watching them fight Barricade, they are so in tuned with each other. When the Decepticon goes after one twin, the other moves in to attack from behind. If one twin misses, the other is already ducking underneath an arm to give a low blow. Move after move they flow together until Barricade lies on the ground, wires sparking and motionless, defeated.

The twins look at each other with triumphant grins as their blades retract back into their arms and then look down at Ari. She approaches them slowly, her head craning back to look up at them. They must be a good fifteen feet tall with Ari only coming up to their knees.

Sideswipe kneels in front of her with a kind smile, “Hey, Ari.”

She half-smiles. “Hey, Sideswipe. So this is what you really look like?”

“Yep. You’re not…afraid of me…are you?” he asks, sounding genuinely worried about her answer.

“Of course not,” she says with a shake of her head. “Yeah, seeing my car turn into a giant robot is certainly…different…But I don’t find it frightening. Like I said, I’ve seen and been through a lot worse.”

Sunstreaker raises an optic ridge, arms crossed. “You just watched three alien robots duke it out, one of which was trying to kill you, and you say you’ve been through worse?”

Sideswipe sighs in exasperation. “Ari, this is my brother, Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker, this is Ari.”

She gives a small, nervous wave. “Hello, Sunny.”

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps with a glare.

“Sorry,” she says with an apologetic smile. “Sides always calls you that. Guess it kind of rubbed off on me.”

Sunny growls at his brother, who returns it with a mischievous smile, and looks back at her. “So, answer the question.”

Ari looks up at him, face impassive but completely serious. “Yes, I have been through worse.”

“Does this have anything to do with what’s going on between you and your parental unit that Sides told me about?”

She winces as if he had struck her and looks away. She can’t tell them. She just can’t. But they already seem so close to finding out by themselves. What will they do, what will they think of her, when they realize what’s going on?

Sunstreaker opens his mouth to say more but Sideswipe stands, places a hand on Sunny’s shoulder, and the two brothers stare at each other for a long moment, probably communicating across the bond they share as twins that Sides described to her.

With a frustrated huff Sunstreaker says to her, “For a human, you sure do cause a lot of trouble.”

Ari frowns. How is she trouble? Is she being burdensome to them?

Sideswipe hits his brother upside the head.

“Ow!” Sunny yells. “What the frag was that for? You better not have caused a dent. That fragging Decepticon left enough of them already. It’s going to take forever to fix.”

Sides rolls his optics. “That was for being an aft to Ari. We’re _supposed_ to be protecting her, remember? Optimus’s orders.”

“Yeah, I get that, but he didn’t say I have to be nice to her.”

“Um, excuse me,” Ari calls up hesitantly, waving her hand to get their attention. They both look at her with identical blank faces. “Why exactly were you ordered to protect me? You never did tell me yet.”

The twins look at each other questioningly. Then Sideswipes looks at her and says, “It’ll probably be better to wait for Optimus and the others to get here before we tell you that. He would probably explain it better anyway.”

So the mystery continues as to why aliens have entered Ari’s life. At least Optimus will be here tomorrow night. Ari just hopes that, whatever it is, it isn’t bad.

And that when all of this is over Sideswipe will be able to stay.

* * *

By the time Ari gets home it is almost 11 o’clock. Way past her usual time in getting home. She isn’t all that surprised to find her father’s car in the driveway and lights on in the house. There isn’t going to be any getting past Ron this time. He may even still be angry for that morning. _And_ she’s driving up in a brand new Corvette Sting Ray. He’s going to think she stole it when he sees it. All in all, things aren’t looking too good.

But she has to go anyway.

“You okay, Ari?” Sideswipe asks as he shuts his engine off. “You seem kind of nervous.

“Um, yeah, I’m uh…,” she wracks her brain for a plausible excuse while wiping her sweaty hands on her jeans. “I’m just, uh, worried that Barricade will come back is all.” Yeah, he’ll believe that.

“Don’t worry about him. We left him as a pile of slag and Sunstreaker is patrolling the city right now looking for any other Decepticons. You’re safe, Ari. Promise.”

If only he knew the real danger is just inside her house and she’s going to be walking to her death in a minute.

She forces a smile. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She then gets out of the car to head inside, questions hurtling around inside her head all the way.

How bad is this going to be?

Is he going to leave visible signs that aren’t so easily covered up this time?

How is she going to explain her injuries to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker if they notice?

What will they do if they find out?

Will they leave her?

_Don’t be silly, Ari. Of course they won’t leave you. They still need you for…well…whatever it is._

She walks into the house, the door closing behind her with the thud of finality. Shuffling towards the living room she sees her father sitting on the couch, several bottles of already consumed alcohol strewn about him on the floor.

And next to him on the couch rests four lengths of twine rope and a roll of duct tape.

Ari stops, eyes wide, staring at the collected items. Exactly what is he planning?

Ron leans forward, elbows resting on his legs with his fingers intertwined between his knees. “So,” he begins, his voice sounding dark and menacing, almost like it did in her nightmare the other night. “Where were you this time?”

“Out for a d-drive,” she says barely above a whisper.

He snorts in disbelief. “Yeah. Right.” He stands, picks up the twine and duct tape in one hand, and approaches her, backing her up against the wall to where their chests are centimeters apart and her nose crinkles in disgust at the smell of alcohol on his breath. “I know what you were doing. You were looking for a way out, weren’t you? Going to tell someone? Or are you playing chicken and just looking for a place to go to when you run?”

“I-I’m not running away. And I haven’t told anybody. I swear.”

“I don’t believe you.” He grabs her right wrist with his free hand, pinning it painfully near her head. “That’s what your mother said too.”

Ari gasps. Her mother didn’t just leave him but _ran away_ from him? Did he beat her all those years ago too? Ari doesn’t remember. She was too young to notice such a thing at the time.

“But it was just a lie,” he continues, squeezing her wrist tighter until she hisses in pain. “She found someone to take her away. Well, you’re not doing the same. Not again. It will not happen again!”

He yanks her away from the wall, towards the stairs, causing her to hit her head against the railing. Stars explode in her head and everything becomes blurry. She tries to make her limbs move but they feel disconnected from her body. But she does feel Ron pick her up and fling her over his shoulder.

“You know what happened to me at work today?” he asks as his feet clomp up the stairs. “I got fired. Yep, my boss says I have anger issues. That I’m losing the bank clients because of them. It’s not my fault some people are idiots. That’s what I told him. I’ve worked at that bank for twenty years, I’m better than any of those other nitwits, and what do I get? I get thrown out like trash!”

Ron walks them into his bedroom, kicks the door closed, and throws Ari onto his four-poster bed. She scrambles to get to the edge of the bed and back on her feet but he’s there again in an instant, lying on top of her, pinning her down with the length of his body. She struggles, thrashing about as hard as she can, but it’s no use. He’s too heavy, too strong. She opens her mouth the scream for help but then his hand is covering her mouth. He tears a length of duct tape off of the roll with his teeth and then uses it to keep her mouth shut.

Slowly, one limb at a time, he takes the twine rope and secures her wrists and ankles to the bedposts to where her arms and legs are painfully splayed apart.

_God, please no. Not this. Anything but this._

When he is finished tying her down he places himself between her legs. He pets her hair gently. “You know, you remind me so much of your mother. Same reddish-brown hair.” His hand moves to stroke her face. “Same pale blue eyes.” His thumb runs over her lips through the tape. “Same rosy lips.” His hand moves downward between their bodies to the hem of her shirt. He yanks the fabric up until it is bunched beneath her armpits and he gropes her chest. Bile rises in Ari’s throat. “Same everything. Same as Judy.” He stares at her reverently with crazed eyes. “Judy…My Judy.”

_I…I don’t think he sees me anymore._

While one hand stays at her chest the other moves to the duct tape, starting to peel it back. She takes in a deep breath through her nose, ready to scream, but then he crushes her mouth with his so that it comes out as a muffled squeal.

_What do I do?_

His lips are wet and sloppy as they move against hers. She tries to move her head away but he holds her still by grabbing her roughly by the hair, yanking hard.

_Please, God, tell me what I have to do to make this stop. Please, just make it stop._

Tears start to stream down her face as he forces his tongue into her mouth, almost making her gag.

She gets an idea. With all the force she has she bites down on his tongue until she tastes blood. He pulls his head back with a yowl of pain, blood dripping down his chin. He smacks her hard across the face with the back of his hand.

It hurts like crazy but she still has enough time to take in a deep breath of air one more time and scream, “Sideswipe!”

Ron looks at her as if she has two heads. “Sideswipe? Judy, what nonsense are you spouting now? Just be quiet while I love you. You don’t want to wake the neighbors, do you?”

No, she doesn’t want to wake the neighbors. But it wasn’t the neighbors she was trying to wake. Ari can hear the sound of metal shifting coming from outside the bedroom window facing the front of the house.

Over Ron’s shoulder she sees a metal face with two brilliant blue optics looking in at them through the glass.

* * *

Everything seems fine as Sideswipe drops Ari off at her house, although she does seem nervous. She says it’s because of the Decepticons, but he isn’t so sure. He has a feeling she’s lying. He lets her go in anyway, listening for any sign she is in trouble. When he hears nothing Sides prepares to go into recharge.

That’s when he hears her scream his name.

A jolt of fear surges through Sideswipe’s spark and he transforms, not caring if any humans see him. His charge is in trouble. Ari needs him.

The scream seemed to have come from one of the upstairs rooms so he looks in through the window to see what is attacking her.

What he sees is…confusing.

Ari is tied down to a berth, shirt lifted up to reveal her mostly-uncovered chest, and her parental unit on top of her.

Sides isn’t sure he knows what is going on, but the pleading look Ari gives him is all he needs to know that she is in trouble and her father is hurting her.

With an angry roar Sideswipe smashes his fist through the window. Her father only has a fraction of a second to turn around before Sideswipe smacks him off of Ari, not hard enough to kill him but enough to send him flying into the wall by the door, knocking him unconscious. He then breaks Ari’s bindings, wraps his hand around her, and brings her out to him.

He cradles her in his arms as she shakes violently. Ari manages to get her shirt to cover herself again and curls into a ball, sobs wracking her body.

Had he seen the word “unwanted” carved into her stomach?

“Ari,” he says gently, lifting her to his face. “Ari, what’s going on? What was your parental unit trying to do to you?”

Ari’s crying makes it hard for her to talk but he does make out the word “rape.” Not knowing what it is, Sideswipe looks it up on the internet, though when he sees the word “sex” he has to look that up as well. He is at first curious, then disgusted, then understanding starts to filter in. Then he is horrified. Then absolutely furious.

Sideswipe holds Ari securely in his arms against his chassis right next to his spark, allowing her to feel its warmth, its energy, hoping it will calm her. It always worked before. But it is still a long time before the sobs dissolve into sniffles and the tremors fade away. He looks down at her, sparkbroken, wishing she did not have this happen to her.

And he’s going to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

“Ari, you can’t stay here anymore,” he tells her. She seems numb and distant but she does nod in acknowledgment. Sideswipe lifts her back up to the broken window and she steps inside. “Go to your room and pack a bag for a few days. We’ll come back for the rest later.” She doesn’t move, eying her father warily. Honestly, Sideswipe doesn’t trust her in there alone with such a monster either. Then he remembers something, an invention Ratchet made just before they left Cybertron in preparation for whatever planet they ended up on so they could more easily blend in. He decides to give it a shot. Ari would probably be more comfortable handling him in a more familiar form anyway. “Stay right there, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“What,” Ari’s voice comes out hoarse. She coughs, trying to clear it. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to activate my holoform. You’ll see in a minute. Just don’t freak out.”

Ari gives him a confused look as Sideswipe backs away from the window and reverts back into his alt mode, parking in the driveway once more. He activates his holoform and for a moment everything goes black.

When Sideswipe opens his eyes again everything feels so…different. For one, he can feel so much more. Humans have so many more nerve receptors than Cybertronians do. And his size. It is so weird suddenly being only six feet tall. He looks down at his hands, his now pink, fleshy hands, turning them around and wiggling his fingers experimentally. Everything appears to be working correctly which is a relief considering Ratchet didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on the holoforms. He looks around him at the tiny human room, now not so tiny to him. Ari still stands at the window looking out at his alt mode probably wondering what in the world a holoform is. He grins and says, “Hey, Ari.”

* * *

Ari hears someone say her name behind her and she jumps, turning around in fright thinking her father has woken up already.

What she sees is a total stranger. He’s tall, she only coming up to about his shoulder, with semi-long, messy black hair, handsome features, lean muscles tucked snugly in faded jeans and a gray t-shirt, and the bluest blue eyes that are somehow familiar. She peers into them closely, remembering Sideswipe’s words not to freak out.

“Sides?” she asks curiously.

The stranger grins, revealing perfectly white teeth. “Yep, it’s me. This is my holoform. Like a hologram but, you know, it has an actual solid form. See?” He reaches out and touches her shoulder.

She winces and takes a step back. Yes, he is certainly solid. And very human-like. Too much, apparently, for her frayed mind that hasn’t been able to stand normal human contact for a long, long time. She knows it is Sideswipe, that he would never hurt her. His body isn’t even technically a human body, but it still doesn’t matter. It’s probably now going to be worse than before after… _that_ …almost happened to her. It’s frustrating, always has been, especially when she’s around people she actually likes, like Hal and her other coworkers at the diner, but she just can’t help it. Touch just reminds her too much of pain now.

Sideswipe takes a step towards her, hand still outstretched, his face etched with worry wondering why she would shy away from him. Her muscles automatically tense at his closeness with the hairs on her arms standing on end. She takes another step back. “I’m sorry but please just…just don’t.”

He lets his hand drop with a sad sigh. “Go get some things packed. I’m going to go tie up your dad in case he wakes up before we’re gone.”

Ari nods and heads towards her room. In her closet is a duffel bag and she drags it out. She stuffs it with a couple of days’ worth of clothes, one or two of her books, her laptop, her school things, hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, and other necessities. While looking to see if there is anything else she may need anytime soon her eyes fall upon the picture frame containing the only photo of her mother she has. She picks it up, staring back at the face that her father apparently sees every time he looks at Ari. The face that left her husband to save herself while leaving her daughter alone with a man she knows is a monster.

Ari tosses the frame back in her closet, not caring what happens to it, and walks out the door.

* * *

Ari is quiet the entire drive as Sideswipe takes them someplace…well…he really doesn’t know where they should go. He just knew he couldn’t allow her to stay in that house for another minute. But at the end of the road they end up at the cliff where he played her that song overlooking endless grasslands. It’s completely private, not another person for miles.

As soon as they stop Ari get out, walking to the edge of the cliff to stare out at the blackness of night.

Sideswipe isn’t sure what to do. She’s hurting, badly, but there’s no way he can fix it. If only he had figured it out sooner, that her dad is abusive. He should have known, he had seen the cuts on her arm, saw her angry father, and yet he sent her back to him like a horse for slaughter. If he had only been more observant, if he had taken better care of her, then none of this would have happened.

But he cannot go back in time to fix past mistakes.

But maybe he can help her move past this horrible nightmare. It may not be much, but he can be there for her. He can comfort her.

Sideswipe activates his holoform and approaches her tentatively. He places a hand on her shoulder gently but still Ari flinches away from him. He pulls his hand back, palm forward to appear less threatening. “Sorry. I…I was just trying to help. Did I…Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you?”

She looks at him with alarm and says quickly, “No, no, it’s not your fault, Sideswipe. It’s just….” Tears start to stream down her face again, sparkling in the moonlight, and her voice becomes slightly squeaky. “I can’t. I just can’t. He’s hurt me for so long and it…Every time someone, anyone, touches me it feels like _he’s_ touching me. My mind and body just can’t tell the difference anymore.”

Sides stands there helplessly as Ari covers her face with her hands and sobs, her frail shoulders shaking. He wants to touch her but from what she said he will only hurt her more.

But if she can’t stand human touch, then what about someone not human?

He deactivates his holoform and quickly transforms into his bipedal mode. Sideswipe rolls over to her, gets down on his knees, and carefully, slowly, reaches out a hand to touch her shoulder again.

* * *

When something touches her shoulder again Ari instantly shies away from the unknown thing, but when she looks up she sees, through blurry eyes, that it is Sideswipe’s hand, his real hand made, not out of flesh, but of metal. She steps closer to him, wondering if, since he is not human, it will be different. Seeing her willingness, Sideswipe reaches out again until his large thumb strokes her cheek to wipe away the tears that rest there. She stands still, waiting for the same anxious, uncomfortable feeling, like that of a trapped animal, to wash over her.

But it never comes.

He strokes her cheek again and this time Ari leans into the touch. It’s been so long, so very, very long, since she has last been touched and it feel completely normal to her. Which is an odd thought considering Sideswipe is a far cry from what most people would call normal. His thumb alone covers her entire cheek and he is made out of metal, though it is comfortably warm unlike the coldness she would have expected to feel. Still, he is a gigantic alien who could crush her if he’s not careful.

And yet she feels safer with him than she ever has before.

Fresh tears start to stream down her face though this time with relief, joy, happiness, feelings she hardly remembers ever feeling before she met Sideswipe.

Sides frowns. He begins to move his hand away, thinking that his touch is still hurting her, but she grabs his hand, holding it to her face. His thumb resumes catching her tears as the rest of his fingers curl behind her, resting against her neck and upper back. His optics look over her face curiously as he asks, “What’s wrong?”

She gives him a wet smile. “Nothing. I-I’m okay. For once I actually feel okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.” He grins as Ari closes her eyes, relishing in the feeling of Sideswipe touching her, of being touched and not feeling pain and fear. Her mind begins to wonder back to the same place but a different time, when the air was filled with music and a promise.

**The last night you’ll spend alone**

**I’ll wrap you in my arms and I won’t let go**

She opens her eyes again, looking up at Sideswipe. “Hey, Sides?”

“Yeah, Ari?”

“Will you….” Her cheeks flush slightly as the words catch in her throat. She doesn’t really know how to ask what she wants to ask, so instead she lifts up her arms to him, hoping the universal gesture is known even where he’s from.

Apparently it is. He gives her a soft smile and nods, gently lifting her up into his arms so that she is draped across his right forearm with his left cupping her to his chassis, holding her close to his spark, and his hand continuing to stroke the side of her face.

They stay like this for a long time. When Ari is just on the edge of unconsciousness she feels Sideswipe lie down, still holding her to his chest, so that they can both fade away into peaceful oblivion. Her final thought is that she now truly believes that everything is going to be okay.

So long as Sideswipe is by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	6. Battle Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Because I'm bored and I feel like it. And I don't know if I'm going to be able to post next week or not since I'm going on vacation and the wifi there tends to be crappy.

Sideswipe comes back online to an unfamiliar yet comfortable weight on his chassis. Looking down he sees Ari lying across his chest, sound asleep with her mouth slightly open, and his hands covering her body like blankets. His processor spins for a few seconds before he remembers the events of the previous day.

And night.

Ari’s parental unit. The unspeakable things he tried to do to her.

He lays his head back down staring up at the gradually lightening sky. It’s unbelievable that a parental unit can do such a thing to his own sparkling. How long had it been going on for, the abuse? Weeks? Months? Years? Sides would guess the latter considering some of the scars on her arm, when he got a glimpse at them just the day before, looked fairly old. And that first morning he was at her house, she had come out limping. That probably means he beat her too. What other kind of horrors has Ari had to endure? Anger bubbles in Sideswipe’s spark just thinking about it.

_“Hey, Sides, what’s going on?”_ Sunstreaker asks through the bond. _“I can feel your anger through the bond. Felt it yesterday too. Since you didn’t call for backup I figured everything was fine but…you usually only get this mad if a Decepticon is involved._

Sideswipe sighs and looks down at Ari again. Should he wait for Ari’s permission before he tells his brother? Then again, there is no keeping secrets from Sunstreaker. The bond kind of makes it impossible. And he doesn’t want to have to lie to his brother. Sideswipe decides to go ahead and tell him, figuring Sunstreaker would better understand if it came from his brother anyway.

When he is finished Sunny is silent for long time, though Sides can feel the anger radiating off of him.

_“That…_ fragger _,”_ Sunny says coldly. _“That’s Decepticon cruel. Please tell me you did something to him?”_

_“I knocked him against a wall,”_ Sides replies, _“Couldn’t kill him, of course. Optimus’s orders. Though maybe he’ll make an exception with this one.”_

_“We can only hope.”_

Sideswipe chuckles a little. _“Yeah, but he probably won’t. We can’t just go around killing humans, no matter what they do, or else the rest of them won’t ever trust us.”_

_“Can we at least prank him then?”_

_“I kind of already did that, although he deserves a return visit. Maybe a few.”_

_“What did you do?”_

_“I duct taped him to a chair.”_

_“What’s duct tape?”_

_“It’s amazing stuff, really. It’s like a kind of plastic strip all rolled up and is sticky on one side. I wrapped him up in it real good. The only way he’s getting out of there is if he somehow gets a hold of something sharp or someone helps him.”_

_“Very nice. But you’re right. He’s going to need to undergo a couple more pranks.”_

Ari moves on Sideswipe’s chassis, beginning to stir from her slumber. _“Ari’s starting to wake up. You done with your patrol yet?”_

_“Yeah, didn’t find any more Decepticons, but they’re probably still out there. Somewhere.”_

_“Nothing we can do about it now. Not until they show themselves. How about you meet up with us? I don’t think we’re going to be going anywhere for a while.”_

_“Alright, send me the coordinates and I’ll see you soon.”_

_“See you soon.”_

* * *

 

Warmth. That’s the first thing Ari notices when she starts to come back to the waking world. There is warmth all around her, especially below her. That’s where it’s strongest. What’s odd is that she doesn’t appear to be in her bed. The surface she’s on is too hard, but not uncomfortable. In fact, it feels really nice, especially with the warmth, and she doesn’t want to move. But she knows she has to. She has to get ready for school. Her alarm hasn’t gone off yet, but it probably will soon. Might as well get started now. The sooner she leaves, the less likely she’ll be to run into Ron.

Wait. Ron.

Memories flash behind her still-closed eyelids. Horrific memories. Things she wishes she could forget. Tears build in her eyes and she lets out a small whimper as she remembers the feel of Ron’s rough hands on her smooth skin.

Something warm and metal caresses her back comfortingly. She wonders why she’s not scared of it, but then she remembers that too.

Sideswipe. He saved her. Then held her as she cried. And she let him. She’s miraculously unafraid of his touch.

Ari opens her eyes, expecting to see Sideswipe looking down at her lying on the ground or something, but that’s not where she is. She is lying on her stomach across Sideswipe’s chassis right above his spark. That’s what’s making the warmth. And his hands, they’re cupping her to him, his thumb gently stroking her back. Tilting her head up she sees a pair of blue optics staring at her filled with worry.

“Good morning,” he whispers as if speaking too loud will somehow break whatever calm she is trying to hold onto. “You okay?”

“As good as can be expected,” she says, sniffling and rubbing her eyes dry. She then looks out over the grassy hills to see the sun already all the way out from behind the horizon. “What time is it?”

He raises an optic ridge. “Do you really care?”

She thinks about it for only a second. “You’re right. I really don’t. Not really a reason to go and…Ron might go looking for me there.” She chuckles softly. “It’s funny. This will be my first absence in…years. I’ve always gone to school, even when really sick.”

“Why would you push yourself so hard?”

Ari lays her cheek back down against his chest plate looking out towards the horizon and not at Sides. “Because I’d rather be sick at school than at home with _him_ any longer than I have to be.”

Sideswipe squeezes her gently. “Do you want to…tell me about it now?”

She’s been dreading this moment. Ari knew he would ask eventually after yesterday’s events. But the idea of talking about it, of _telling_ someone when all her life she’s lived in fear that someone would find out and she would be punished for it. It scares her. Even more, how will he react once he finds out the whole truth? How will he see her then? Will he be disgusted with her? Pity her?

Will he leave her?

_He hasn’t left you yet, Ari_ , she reminds herself. _Not even after what he saw yesterday. He stayed and comforted you. Even held you all throughout the night._

She looks up at him again. He’ll tell her it’s okay if she doesn’t want to tell him now. She knows he will. Like last time. She can chicken out if she wants and he’ll be perfectly okay with it. He won’t pressure her. This is her decision and hers alone.

At that moment they hear a car approaching and Ari looks up in alarm thinking it’s a human who’s about to see a giant robot. Or, even worse, it’s a Decepticon.

“It’s just Sunny,” Sides tells her before she can voice her concern. “I told him to meet us here. And I already told him about…yesterday.” He glances at her warily. “I hope you don’t mind.”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t expect you to keep it a secret from your brother. You already told me something like that is hard to do anyway, what with the bond and all.”

Sideswipe sighs in relief as Sunstreaker comes around the corner, his alt form being a very bright yellow sports car.

“What kind of car is that exactly?”

“It’s a Lamborghini Gallardo,” Sides says with a smirk.

“Oh. It’s very….”

“Ostentatious. Yeah, I know. But that’s Sunny for ya.”

Ari laughs, the sound coming out slightly choked, and she wipes at her face one more time to make sure all of the tears are gone. Sideswipe sits up cross-legged and places Ari on one knee, still keeping a hand cupped around her, just as Sunstreaker pulls up and transforms.

“Hey,” he says as greeting. “Got Optimus on the Comm Link on the way here. He said he and the others will be here in a couple of joors. They’ll probably make planetfall a little after dusk. What do you want to do til then?”

Sideswipe shrugs. “Don’t know. Nothing really to do. Hang out here I guess. Humans don’t come out here much so we won’t have to be in our alt modes all day.”

Sunstreaker sits down facing his brother, although glancing at the dirt with a slight look of disgust. “So we’re just going to sit here all day?”

“Well, you got any better ideas?”

The two begin to quibble on how to pass the time but Ari tunes them out, looking down and playing with the hem of her shirt. She keeps thinking back to Sideswipe’s words. Should she tell them? If she were to tell anyone, it would be them. She’s never trusted anyone more fully, even Sunstreaker though she hasn’t known him as long. Really, she hasn’t known either of them long. But they both have saved her in more ways than one.

“I’ll tell you,” she says, barely above a whisper. Neither of them heard of course and she sighs. It was so hard to get out the first time. But she gathers her courage again and says it louder this time, “I’ll tell you.”

Both brothers stop arguing and stare at her, Sunstreaker in confusion and Sideswipe in shock.

“Are you sure?” Sides asks.

Sunny raises an optic ridge. “What’s she talking about?”

“I’ll tell you about…what’s happened to me,” she explains and Sunstreaker’s eyes widen in understanding. “And yes, I’m sure.”

They both nod in encouragement and she begins. She tells them of the day her mother left, including the new information she learned from Ron last night. That she left him to get away from the abuse and just abandoning her daughter to fend for herself. She tells them of her first beating. And all those that followed with greater and greater intensity. She rolls up her sleeves and pant legs to show them her scars, naming them one by one, describing how she got them. That had been hard. Ari’s scars are so…ugly to her. She’s ashamed of them, of her weakness to letting them happen. If she was stronger, then maybe they wouldn’t have happened. She could have gotten the courage to run away. But she didn’t. Because she was scared. Scared of what would happen to her. She has nowhere else to go.

Then her hands go to the hem of her shirt again. She should show them this one. But it’s so much worse than all the others. So much uglier. And so true in Ari’s mind. That she is unwanted.

“You alright, Ari?” Sideswipe asks after she’s been silent for a few minutes.

She bites her lip. “There’s…there’s one more I have to show you but….”

“Is it bad?” Sunny asks quietly.

She nods.

“You don’t have to show us if you don’t want to.”

“Yes, I do. I need to show you all of them. If I don’t now, then I may never will.” With a deep breath Ari closes her eyes tight and lifts up her shirt to reveal her stomach before she loses her nerve. She hears their intake of breath and knows they see it, the word “unwanted” carved into the smooth skin. She turns her head away even though she already can’t see the looks on their faces. She doesn’t want to see it, the disgust and, even worse, the pity.

“You really have been through worse.”

Ari opens her eyes and hesitantly looks up at Sunstreaker from behind the sweep of her bangs. There is sadness in his face, like she expected, but there isn’t disgust. Instead, she sees anger and determination. She looks up at Sideswipe and sees the same. Gently, he places a finger on her hand still holding up her shirt and guides it down. She looks at the brothers, head swiveling back and forth. “You…you don’t think I’m disgusting and w-weak?”

“Of course not, Ari,” Sides says as he lifts her up into his arms to hold her against his chassis. “We wish you didn’t ever have to go through all of this but we don’t think it makes you disgusting and it definitely doesn’t make you weak. If anything it shows how strong you are to be able to endure so much and to still keep going.”

“He’s right,” Sunny says. “You’re stronger than a lot of Autobots I used to know. They went through similar torture when captured by Decepticons but they weren’t strong enough to survive like you did. And it didn’t last for several stellar cycles.”

Ari has never thought of it like that. That just being able to survive Ron’s abuse means she’s strong.

She _is_ strong.

Her chest seems to lighten all of a sudden, as if some huge weight has been lifted off of her chest. And it’s all because of these two alien robots. She gives them a warm smile. “Thank you. You guys have no idea how much it means for me to hear you say that.”

Without saying a word, the three of them decide to switch topics, and Sunstreaker offers one up by showing Ari all of his scars, recounting each of the battles he fought while obtaining them. He has a lot more than Ari would have thought considering how much he cares about his looks. After a while Sideswipes puts Ari back down on his knee so he can show her a few of his own.

They have so many scars like her, though they are battle scars. But it makes Ari wonder. Maybe one day she won’t be so ashamed of her scars, like Sides and Sunny, and be able to wear them proudly instead of covering them up. Maybe one day she can see them as battle scars, too.

* * *

 

As the sun begins to set they decide to head out, stopping at a fast food place along the way so Ari can change out of the clothes she is still wearing from the day before, freshen up a little bit, and grab a bite to eat. Then they make their way to the coordinates Optimus sent them for the meeting place.

When they are about halfway there, in the middle of the city, there is a bright flash of light in the sky. Sideswipe pulls over with Sunstreaker following behind.

“What’s going on?” Ari asks.

“It’s them.” Sideswipe says. “They’re entering Earth’s atmosphere. Go on. Take a look.”

She steps out of the car and raises her eyes up to the sky. Four streaks of light move across the blackness. They look almost like shooting stars, but as they get closer and closer to the city she realizes that they are huge, like giant meteors. They pass right overhead and collide with the earth one by one with a distant boom. Ari quickly get back inside Sideswipe so they can get going.

The twins take her to a deserted alleyway in between several buildings. As Ari gets out again to stand in front of Sideswipe’s hood four vehicles pull up: a large black truck, a rescue vehicle, a very expensive looking silver car, though different than Sideswipe, and a blue semi with red flames. One by one the Cybertronians transform into their bipedal modes including Sideswipe and Sunstreaker behind her. Ari stares wide eyed at the one that was the semi, who towers over her, making her feel like an ant.

“Holy frag,” she whispers in awe. “And I thought Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were big.”

The semi looks at Sides and Sunny with a raised optic ridge and then kneels down to be on level with her. “Are you Arianna Samantha Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?” She winces slightly at the use of her full name, Ron being the only one to ever call her that, but nods. “My name is Optimus Prime. I would tell you where we are from but I have a feeling you already know.” He looks up at the twins again. “How much have you told her?”

“Not too, too much,” Sideswipe says sounding like an embarrassed kid caught stealing a cookie.

“Enough to learn our curse words though,” the rescue vehicle says disapprovingly.

Oops. Ari forgot that their original orders were to not make contact with her and she just gave it away that they did. “It’s not their fault,” she says, causing everyone to look back down at her. “They had to reveal themselves in order to protect me.”

“Yeah, Barricade showed up,” Sunny says, although hedging the truth slightly. She appreciates it, having already asked them not to tell the others about Ron and everything.

Optimus looks slightly suspicious but lets it slide, “In that case it is alright.”

“Hey, what about introducin’ the rest of us?” the silver one says sounding similar to a gangster.

“Very well,” Optimus says. “This is my first lieutenant, designation: Jazz.”

“This looks like a cool place to kick it,” Jazz says and sits down on a dumpster, striking a pose.

Ari giggles. “Where did he learn to talk like that?”

“We’ve learned Earth’s languages through the World Wide Web.” Optimus then turns to the one who was the black truck. “My weapons specialist, Ironhide.”

Ironhide’s hands transform into a pair of cannons, aiming them at Ari. “You feeling lucky, punk?”

Ari lets out a small eep and runs behind Sideswipe’s leg.

“Easy, Ironhide,” Optimus warns.

“Just kidding. I just wanted to show her my cannons.” Thankfully, he puts them away.

“Don’t worry, Ari,” Sideswipe says, looking down at her. “He’s just messing around.”

She steps out from her hiding place, though still a little wary of Ironhide, in order to receive the last of the introductions.

Optimus continues, “Our medical officer, Ratchet.”

A red light briefly flashes over Ari’s body. “What was that?” she asks.

“My scanners,” Ratchet explains. “Since you were attacked by Barricade I thought it best to make sure you are okay.”

_A little warning would have been nice._ Then she realizes something. If he scanned her, then he’s going to see…

“That’s strange,” he says. “You appear to have been injured several times over a long period of ti-”

“So why are you all here?” Ari hurriedly interrupts, looking up at Optimus. Ratchet lets out an annoyed huff but lets it go. “Sideswipe and Sunstreaker haven’t told me that part yet.”

“We are here looking for the AllSpark,” Optimus says. “And we must find it before Megatron.” He touches the side of his head activating some sort of hologram that shines from his eyes. All around Ari the scenery changes to that of a desolated planet. “Our planet was once a powerful empire. Peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons.”

The hologram shows a very menacing Decepticon with sharp teeth and horrible red eyes, reminding Ari very much of her nightmare.

“Our war finally consumed the planet, and the AllSpark was lost to the stars. Megatron followed it to Earth, where Captain Witwicky found him.”

_My grandfather?_

The scene plays out before Ari’s eyes of how her ancestor found Megatron in some sort of underground ice cave. “Megatron crash-landed before he could retrieve the cube and your grandfather accidentally activated Megatron’s navigation system. The coordinates to the Cube’s location on Earth were then imprinted on his glasses.”

“How did you know about his glasses?” Ari asks as the hologram fades away.

“EBay.”

“If the Decepticons find the AllSpark,” Ratchet interjects, “they will use its power to transform Earth’s machines and build a new army.”

“And the human race will be extinguished.” Optimus stands back up. “Ari Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth’s survival.”

The fate of the world placed on her shoulders and all because of a pair of glasses she was trying to sell them on eBay for college tuition. Ari shakes her head in disbelief. All of this just keeps getting crazier and crazier.

But there is one slight problem.

She turns and looks back up at Sideswipe anxiously. “Sides, the glasses aren’t one of the things I grabbed before leaving home.”

Sides looks at her in horror and then angrily bangs his fist against his forehead. “Slagslagslag. I should have just told you. Why didn’t I just tell you? I could have at least told you to take them with you and not said why, but no. I was too focused on just getting out of there that I didn’t think.” He sighs and looks at Ari with a pained expression. “I’m sorry, Ari. I’m so, so sorry, but we’re going to have to go back to your house to get the glasses.”

* * *

 

Luckily none of the Autobots ask any questions as they all head to Ari’s house, but Sideswipe knows it isn’t going to last. At the very least Ratchet is going to want some answers for those scans he took. He saw the scars. Sides knows it. Ari knows it. She kept him from saying anything for now, but it’s only a matter of time. And then Optimus is going to get involved, of course. After that it won’t be long until all the others know. That’s exactly what Ari didn’t want to have happen, that’s why she swore Sunny and he to secrecy, but if they ask will Sideswipe really be able to disobey his commanding officer?

Well, he’s going to find out, for on the way to Ari’s house Ratchet opens up a privet Comm Link with Sideswipe.

::Ratchet, to Sideswipe, come in Sideswipe.::

Might as well get it over with. ::Yeah, I’m here. What is it?::

::Ratchet and I have some questions regarding the scans Ratchet took of Ari,:: Optimus says, apparently being a part of the Comm Link as well.

He sighs. ::Let me just patch in Sunstreaker and we’ll try to answer your questions as best we can.:: There, no guarantees. ::Sunny? You there?::

::Yeah, what is it?:: Sunstreaker replies over the Comm Link.

::Optimus and Ratchet want to know about what was found from Ari’s scans.::

::Exactly what all _did_ you see, Ratchet?::

::I saw multiple places on her body where there is scar tissue, indicating that she has been severely cut and/or stabbed multiple times and on multiple occasions. The ones on her stomach that look like they are deliberately carved out to spell the word “unwanted” are especially disturbing. Also, there is evidence that, throughout her life, she has sustained fractures and breaks to her left leg, both her arms, and on five of her ribs. Lastly, she seems to be very malnourished, although it is nothing life-threatening yet.”

_“Slagit, Sides, what do we do?”_ Sunstreaker asks over the bond. _“She asked us not to say anything.”_

_“And we won’t,”_ Sideswipe says. _“At least, nothing that will add to what they already know.”_

::Did either of you know of Ari’s condition?:: Optimus asks.

::Yes.:: Sideswipe says hesitantly. ::But not until recently.::

::Do you know the cause of her injuries? And do they have anything to do with why she was hesitant to return to her home?::

::She…asked us not to say.::

::Sideswipe, you need to tell us,:: Ratchet says sternly. ::Ari’s life could be in grave danger.::

::We already know that,:: Sunny growls.

::Then why keep it from us?::

::Because we already have a handle on it,:: Sides says with determination. ::Trust us, the one responsible for Ari’s condition is _never_ going to harm her again. We’ll make sure of it. Also, like I said, she asked us not to say anything to anyone. We will not betray her trust.::

::Optimus, as Chief Medical Officer, I must insist you not allow this.::

Optimus is silent over the Comm Link for a long time. If he orders Sides and Sunny to talk….

::Stand down, Ratchet,:: Optimus orders.

Ratchet scoffs in surprise, ::But Optimus-::

::I know what is at stake, but I have chosen to trust in Sideswipe’s and Sunstreaker’s judgment. If they say that they can handle it, then I believe that they will. I also do not want to force information from them that Ari wishes to keep private. She is our first human ally and will hopefully trust us enough one day to call us friend. Breaking that trust now would not be wise.::

Ratchet grumbles unintelligible words in Cybertronian but then says ::Yes, sir.:: and disconnects from the Comm Link.

::Thank you, sir,:: Sides says with relief.

::You are welcome. If ever the time comes when you need our help in this matter, know that we will do whatever it takes to protect Ari from harm.::

::We know, sir. Hopefully it won’t come to that.::

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	7. Seven, and Unlucky Number

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because cliffies are some of my favorite plot devices *evil smile*

After convincing the rest of the Autobots to hang back further down the street, Sideswipe pulls into Ari’s driveway. She was really nervous the entire drive, not knowing what to expect. Is he still there or did he break out of the duct tape?

When she gets a good look at the house she sees that all of the lights are off. She’s pretty sure they didn’t bother turning the lights off when Sideswipe took her from this place. And, most importantly, her father’s car is no longer in the driveway.

“So he got out,” Ari says quietly, not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that Ron appears to not be in the house at the moment. Good, because she won’t have to deal with him again. Bad, because he is free who knows where looking for her. And he could return home any second.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Sideswipe asks.

“No. I don’t think he’s home so I’ll be alright. You stay out here and warn me if he comes back before I get out. Just honk three times.”

“Alright. Be quick. Optimus is really anxious to get after the AllSpark before the Decepticons find it.”

Ari nods as she steps out of Sideswipe’s interior and heads into the house.

Everything is eerily silent.

She’s come home plenty of times before to an empty house, but the deepening darkness has never seemed so sinister to her, so likely to contain something that wishes her harm. Her hand automatically goes to the light switch, illuminating the entry hall that leads passed the kitchen and dining room on the right, living room and her father’s study on the left, and goes straight for the stairs. As she passes each room Ari peers in, half expecting her father to be there, waiting for her, but they are empty.

Creeping up the stairs, each creak of the wood echoes loudly in her ears and up towards the upstairs hallway, an alarm to anyone or thing that might be waiting for her. And Ari feels so sure that she is not alone. That any minute now the worst is going to happen and her father will be there with his hand around her neck. Once at the top of the stairs she turns on the light for the hallway. Her door is at the very end, passed her father’s room, the hallway bathroom, and a spare bedroom. She listens intently for signs of life as she walks passed each door, but again, all is quiet. Still, she does not feel safe until she is in her room with the door locked behind her.

Leaning her back against the door Ari breathes a sigh of relief. Her heart is pounding in her chest. She had been so sure that, despite the house seemingly appearing empty from the outside, her father would still be inside, waiting for her. But nothing has happened yet. He has not jumped out of hiding. Either he is waiting for something or her fears are unfounded. She laughs at herself softly for being so scared of nothing and goes to her closet, grabs the glasses from the box of her grandfather’s things, and then heads back downstairs with lighter feet than before, turning off lights as she goes.

As she is about to grab the door handle a car honks three times.

Ari freezes. Her heart stops. Her breath catches. Her eyes widen.

Keys jingle in a hand just beyond the door. The sound breaks Ari from whatever trance she is in. She backs away looking around for a place to hide. She heads into the living room since he is more likely to go into the kitchen to grab a beer. Hiding behind the couch, she waits.

Unsteady hands work at the door for a little longer before it swings open. She can hear her father stumbling in, cursing as he trips over the entry rug. Then he stops. Why, why is he stopping?

“Oh Arianna,” he calls out in a singsong voice that makes her blood freeze. “I know you’re here, Arianna. I know I didn’t leave this hall light on.”

Ari’s eyes close slowly in defeat. The light. She hadn’t turned it off yet, she was going to once she had the door open but then she heard the honking.

Footsteps move down the hallway. All she needs is for him to check the kitchen first. Or, better yet, go upstairs to her bedroom. Ari strains her ears trying to figure out where he is going.

Silence. No movement at all. Where is he, where is he, where is he?

A hand flashes out from the other side of the couch, grabbing Ari by the shirt collar. “Gotcha,” Ron says victoriously.

Ari opens her mouth to scream for Sideswipe but Ron’s other hand moves to cover her mouth.

“I don’t think so, Arianna. I don’t know what happened last time, but you screaming doesn’t seem to end up good for me.” His arm swiftly moves from her shirt to lock around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides and her back against his chest. “Now tell me,” he whispers in her ear, “whose car is that outside? It’s not yours, is it? That dead-end job you have at that diner doesn’t pay nearly enough for a car like that. Did you steal it? Do I now have a thief living under my roof? That’s going to require some intensive,” he licks the side of her face, “punishment.”

“Let the girl go,” a deep, very distinctive voice says from behind them.

Ron shoves Ari forward, sending her into the wall, and turns around. Ari looks up to see a group of people standing in the middle of the living room.

There is a big man appearing to be in his forties with a buzz cut that makes him look like he is in the military wearing black jeans, black boots, and a black fitted shirt.

There is an older man, maybe mid-fifties, in beige slacks, white button-up shirt, yellow vest, with white hair and glasses.

There is a black man, late twenties, with dreadlocks, goatee, and wearing slightly baggy jeans and a hoodie.

At the front is a man in is late thirties with a dark brown, close cropped hair and beard wearing a blue leather jacket with red flames over a plain white shirt and jeans.

And next to him is a pair of twins in their early twenties. One of them being Sideswipe with his messy mop of black hair that Ari recognizes even though she’s only seen him once, and next to him is his mirror image though with shorter, sleeked back hair.

It’s the Autobots, all of them in their holoforms. And looking like they’re about to vaporize someone.

“What are you all doing in my house?” Ron asks, anger building in his voice with every word. “Get out before I call the cops!”

“Not without Ari,” Sideswipe says with a growl.

“Oh, no. You aren’t taking my daughter anywhere!” Ron picks up an empty beer bottle, wielding it as a weapon. “All of you get out now!”

“We are not leaving this place without Ari,” the man with the leather jacket says, his voice undoubtedly belonging to Optimus. “You will allow her to come with us or we will use force. We outnumber you, Mr. Witwicky. I suggest you stand down.”

“I don’t think so.” Ron glares at Optimus, his gaze never faltering. Completely distracted. Ari uses the opportunity to run around the couch towards the Autobots. However, with her father’s long reach he manages to grab her by the wrist. “And where do you think you’re going?”

Faster than anyone else can react, Sideswipe lunges, his fist connecting with Ron’s jaw. Ron falls back with a yelp of surprise and pain, letting go of Ari’s wrist as he collides with the floor with a hard thump. He doesn’t get back up.

The oldest of the Autobots’ holoforms, Ratchet she guesses, kneels down next to Ron and examines him. “He’s fine. Just unconscious, though when he wakes up in a few hours he will have quite the headache.”

Ari cradles her arm to her and inches behind Sideswipe. She tugs on the back of his shirt. “Thanks.”

Sideswipe give her father one last glare and then turns to her, his eyes instantly softening. “Are you okay?” He tentatively reaches out a hand, gesturing towards the wrist Ron grabbed. “Do you want me to take a look at that?”

She’s hesitant for a couple of seconds and then nods. She holds out her arm to him, slightly shaky. When he touches her, rolling up her shirt sleeve to reveal her wrist and then fingers gently ghosting across her skin, she can’t help but cringe. But she holds still as best she can. Ari doesn’t want to be afraid of him. Not Sideswipe. Not after all he’s done for her.

“You’re going to have a pretty nasty bruise but you’ll be fine.” Sideswipe strokes her skin one last time and then let’s go. “Sorry.”

Ari’s brow furrows. “For what?”

“This shouldn’t have happened,” he says sadly.

“Sides, what more could you have done?”

“No, he’s right,” Sunstreaker says, coming over to stand next to his brother. “We never should have let him enter the house.”

“Do not blame yourselves,” Ratchet says. “It is my fault. When I saw that you two were distressed over the fact that her parental unit had arrived home I insisted on an explanation.”

“But when we realized what was goin’ on we came as fas’ as we could,” the man with the dreadlocks, Jazz, says. “There’s nothin’ we can do abou’ it now.”

“Jazz is right,” Optimus says. “What is important is that Ari is now safe.”

The military man, Ironhide, steps next to her father and looks down at him with disgust. “I say we get rid of this rodent. May I eliminate him, sir?”

“If anyone’s going to get that privilege, it’ll be me,” Sideswipe says with cold glee.

“That request is denied, you two. We do not harm the humans, even one as…disgraceful as Mr. Witwicky here. We shall let the humans’ judicial system deal with him. We cannot interfere with their affairs.”

“Speaking of which,” Ari steps toward Optimus, looking him directly in his crystal blue eyes. “I have a favor to ask.”

“Name it,” he says without the slightest hesitation which surprises her. He doesn’t even know what she is going to ask, yet he already seems willing to do it.

“If I hand over the glasses, will you do something for me? Will you…will you help make sure I get away from him?”

Optimus smiles. “That is hardly a favor. We would be happy to help you, our new friend.”

Ari smiles, a genuinely happy smile. So, she’s officially friends with a bunch of aliens. Cool.

* * *

 

Optimus’s holoform takes the glasses out to his alt mode while the rest of them take care of Ron. Sideswipe is showing Sunstreaker the wonders of duct tape by wrapping up Ron again, this time with a lot more, Jazz is watching in amusement, Ironhide is there more as a bodyguard to make sure the man doesn’t wake up, and Ratchet is there to make sure none of them do something they shouldn’t even though he is giving her father nasty glances as well.

Ari sits on the couch watching them all with a soft smile, thinking about how her life has changed so completely in a matter of days. She went from having no friends and an abusive father who beat her every day to having many friends, four of whom she only just met a few hours ago, who are willing to stand up for her. They’re willingness to help her, to stay with her, astounds Ari to no end. They have every right to just abandon her now that they have what they came for, but they won’t. They’re taking her with them on their quest to find the AllSpark. They have no time to stop and help her now, but they will help her legally get away from her father when all of this is over. And Ari understands. They can’t stop for anything, never knowing how far behind the Decepticons are. But, because of that, they warned her that her going with them may be dangerous. She told them she doesn’t care. She knows they’ll protect her, especially Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, and she would almost rather face a bunch of Decepticons than her father for just one more day. Sideswipe offered to stay behind with her to ensure her safety but she couldn’t do that to him. This AllSpark is important to them. Ari could tell that Sideswipe wants to go after it as well so she said she will go with them. The offer was sweet though. He would do so much for her.

As Sideswipe and Sunstreaker finish wrapping Ron in duct tape from shoulders to ankles Jazz looks abruptly towards the window. “Optimus says a couple o’ black cars jus’ pulled up. Some guys in black suites are beginnin’ to comb the place.”

Someone knocks on the door. Ari’s mind races. Guys in black suites and black cars. That usually screams government. They can’t know about the Autobots, can they?

“You guys need to leave,” she tells them urgently. They give her questioning looks. “Look, whoever these people are, they’re probably not here for me. They’re here for you. So you guys need to get out of here before they see you.”

Sideswipe shakes his head. “No, we’re not leaving without you. We made a promise.”

She gives him a sad smile. “I know, and I do wish I could go with you, but I’ve seen E.T. enough times to know it never works out well for the aliens.”

“Then what are they going to do to you?” Ironhide asks.

“I’ll be fine. They won’t hurt me since I’m human. They’ll probably just ask me a bunch of questions and then leave.” _Hopefully._ There’s more knocking on the door, more insistent this time. “No more arguing. Go. Now.” She gives them all a stern look until, one by one, their holoforms blink out.

Sideswipe is the last to go. “Stay safe,” he whispers. And then he, too, is gone. Her heart aches a little. She really did want to go with them, with _him_.

“Open up. I know you’re in there!” an obnoxious voice says from the other side of the door. But she doesn’t move until she hears the sound of several cars taking off down the road. A few men yell out and then there is more knocking, more like banging, sounding like it’s going to break down the door.

Ari sighs and goes to open the front door. Standing there are several men in black suites, just like Jazz said. “Can I help you?”

“Hello, there,” the head guy says, a Hispanic-looking guy with a large nose and the owner of the obnoxious voice. “You Arianna Wickety?”

Ari huffs in annoyance. “It’s Witwicky. And I’d prefer Ari. Now who are you?”

He flashes a badge. “We’re the government. Sector Seven.”

“Never heard of it.” The badge says that his name is Agent Simmons. She peers at it closer to try and see if it’s a fake, but she doesn’t really know the signs to look for. Besides, if they are here about aliens she wasn’t exactly expecting the FBI.

“Never will,” Agent Simmons says as he puts the badge away. “You’re the great-granddaughter of Captain Archibald Wickety, correct?”

She sighs. There’s not point. “Yes, why do you ask?”

“May I enter the premises, please?” As he says the words he steps forward into her space causing her to instantly get uncomfortable and step back. Even though he said please it’s still more like an order. Agent Simmons walks fully into the house and a ton of other guys stream in after him. A couple of them are carrying some kind of scanner looking things.

“What is going on here exactly?” Ari asks.

“We believe there is dealings going on here that are a matter of National Security?”

She raises her eyebrow. That’s the best they can come up with? “What do you mean by that?”

“Sir,” one of the other agents say from the living room. “You better come and take a look at this.”

_Slag. I should have told Sideswipe to hide Ron before they left._

Ari follows Agent Simmons resignedly into the living room where, on the ground wrapped in duct tape, lies her still-unconscious father.

Agent Simmons turns to her with a quizzical look. “Care to explain what’s going on here?”

Ari crosses her arms. She doesn’t trust this guy at all. “Care to explain how it is any of your business?”

He narrows his eyes at her. “You’re going to need to come with us.”

“What? No!” Ari backs away towards the door.

“Don’t even try to run, little lady. You can’t run from this. I’m onto this whole operation you got going on here.”

“What operation?” What does he even mean by “operation?”

“That’s what we are gonna find out.”

Another agent comes up holding one of the funky scanners. He holds it out to Simmons and says, “I think direct contact.”

Simmons takes the device, points it at Ari, and it emits an odd noise. “Fourteen rads,” he says victoriously. “Bingo. Tag her and bag her!”

Instantly an agent is behind Ari cuffing her wrists behind her back. She struggles, starting to panic. “Let go of me!”

It’s no use. They lead her outside to one of the black SUVs. Ari looks down the street to where the Autobots had parked, but they are not there. Not even Sideswipe is still in the driveway, tire tracks in the grass showing how he must have gone through the lawn to get around the agents. She smirks. He probably had fun scaring them.

The agent holding her roughly shoves her into the back seat of one of the SUVs, tossing the scanner in next to her, and then gets into the driver’s seat. Agent Simmons gets into the passenger’s and then they are speeding off down the road.

She doesn't see what happens to Ron.

Simmons turns around in his seat to look at Ari. “So what do you know about aliens, kid?”

_Slagslagslag. This is not good. Definitely not good. He knows. They all know. They’re going to try to get to Sideswipe and the others through me and then they’re probably going to experiment on them or just kill them because humans so have a track record of not liking things that are different even though the Autobots aren’t dangerous at all and are here to help us._

Ari looks down at her lap not saying a word.

Simmons reaches back for her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and pulling her forward, like how her father did not long before. Ari struggles to keep her breathing even.

He gets out is badge again and shoves it in her face. “You see this? This is my I-can-do-whatever-I-want-and-get-away-with-it badge. So don’t test me. I don’t know what that crap was back there with your old man, but I can and will find a way to put you away for it for a very, very long time, so I suggest you start talking, missy.”

Ari winces at the threat, the prospect of going to jail not being appealing, but still stays silent. No matter what he does to her she won’t give him what he wants. Whatever he does to her it still won’t be as bad as the things she’s endured before. He is not her father.

Simmons shakes her. “It’s time to talk!”

The scanner next to Ari starts to freak out. Her eyes widen, understanding its meaning. Her eyes dart over to look out the windshield where a large red and blue foot is coming towards them. There is a loud crash as the two metal objects collide. Their car is pushed back. The Agents scream. Cars squeal behind them as they brake to stop.

Two metal hands then grab the top of the car, the fingers puncturing the glass to get underneath, and lift the car into the air. They stay there, suspended in air, agents still screaming, until the metal cannot hold the weight any longer and snaps. The car falls back to earth with a large thud now missing the roof of the car.

Optimus stands over them in all his awesome glory, tossing what used to be part of the car aside like scrap.

Ari smiles up at him. “Well, Simmons, you wanted to know what I know about aliens. Let me introduce you to my friend, Optimus Prime.”

Simmons and the other agent slowly start to stand, staring up at Optimus in awe, as the rest of their men gather around the broken car, guns raised.

“Taking the girl was a bad move,” Optimus growls. “Autobots, relieve them of their weapons.”

The ground shakes and everyone turns to see the rest of the Autobots jumping down from the train overpass, aiming their own weapons at the agents.

“Give me those,” Jazz says as he holds out his hand and all of the guns float into Jazz’s hand as if they were pulled by a magnet. The agents start to freak out and hold up their hands in the universal symbol for don’t shoot.

Silver metal fingers wrap around Ari and she lets out a small squeak of surprise as she’s lifted into the air. Sideswipe sits her down on the palm of his other hand with her feet hanging off the side and then carefully breaks her handcuffs from her wrists.

Ari rubs her now two sore wrists. “Thanks.”

Sideswipe lifts her up until she is level with his face. “Are you okay?”

“I am now,” she says with a smile. “But what are you guys doing here? You should be chasing after the AllSpark. Not wasting time rescuing me.”

He gives her a cocky grin. “What if I like rescuing you?” Ari laughs and his smile widens. But then it fades, his face turning serious. “I couldn’t just leave you, Ari. And since I wanted to go back for you, Sunstreaker did, too, and then Ratchet didn’t want us to go alone and Ironhide wanted a piece of the action and, well, you get the idea. We all wanted to come after you.”

Ari stares into Sideswipe’s blue optics and sees the truth in them. They all really do care about her. It’s an odd feeling, actually being cared for. She hasn’t felt it in a long time.

She stretches out her arms and hugs Sideswipe’s faceplates. “Thank you. For everything.” When she places a kiss on his cheek she swears she feels the metal heating up.

“Y-you’re welcome,” he stammers and places Ari back on the ground.

She giggles and then walks over to the Sector Seven agents who are now lined up on the sidewalk handcuffed together thanks to Sunstreaker’s supervision and Simmons is…well, she isn’t sure what Simmons is doing.

“Sunstreaker, is Simmons… _undressing_?” she asks as the agent finally gives up on undoing his shirt buttons and just yanks the fabric apart, sending the remaining buttons flying.

Sunstreaker looks down at her innocently. “What? He needed a more severe punishment. We all saw how rough he and his men were being with you.”

“Very nice,” Sideswipe says and high-fives his brother. “But I think he needs just a little bit more.”

“What do you have in mind?”

Ari looks at Agent Simmons, who is now in nothing but a white tank and Hawaiian boxers, with pity. “You should not have brought on their wrath.” Something hits Simmons on the head, bouncing off with a hollow thunk, and then a stream of liquid pours out of Sideswipe’s…well. Ari blushes.

“Sideswipe,” Optimus chastises, “stop lubricating the man.”

Sideswipe grins but does stop. He opens his mouth to say something when sirens fill the air.

“Optimus! Incoming!” Ironhide shouts and they all turn to see a fleet of black cars coming their way, including helicopters. Ironhide smashes his cannon into the ground. A light flashes out and when it collides with the cars they fritz out and all screech to a halt.

“Roll out,” Optimus orders and all of the Autobots transform into their alt modes except for Optimus. He holds out his hand to Ari and says, “Up you get.” Ari watches Sideswipe take off down the road for a second and then hops on, knowing Sides wouldn’t leave her unless he knew she would be okay. Optimus lifts her up to his shoulder. When she’s climbed up and hanging on to anything she can he starts running, drawing the Sector Seven agents to him so the others can get away.

It’s a bumpy ride as Optimus runs through the city, dodging cars underfoot, trying to lose the helicopters. Things start to look up when Optimus gets creative and decides to climb up on the underside of a bridge, precariously supporting his weight between two supports with his hands and feet. A spotlight passes them by but it does not appear that they have been spotted.

Then Ari’s grip slips and she starts to fall. At the last minute she manages to grab a hold of a part of Optimus’s shoulder, but her grip is just not strong enough. Her fingers slip the rest of the way and she screams. Down, down, down she goes, the height feeling so much higher while falling. Optimus tries to stop her decent by using his foot to catcher her, but she just ends up bouncing off, unable to grab onto anything. She is feet from the ground when Sideswipe drives up out of nowhere, transforms, and catches her, cradling her protectively to his chest as they skid across the ground. He quickly puts her down and then gets ready to defend her.

Out of nowhere a helicopter comes out and someone in it shoots at Sideswipe, connecting cables to his armor. More helicopters come and do the same until his arms are restrained.

_Don’t._

The cars containing the rest of the agents finally catch up and they do the same.

“No, stop!” Ari screams but all she can do is watch in horror as Sideswipe is forced to the ground. Men come up with tanks strapped to their backs and shoot what looks like liquid nitrogen at him. Sides lets out a pitiful, high-pitched whirling noise, sounding almost like a scream.

_Don’t take him from me._

Ari tries to rush to his side but a couple of the agents grab onto her arms, holding her back. “What are you doing? He’s not fighting back! Look at him, he’s not fighting back!”

She almost wishes he would fight back, but she knows his vow to not hurt humans. He can’t fight back without hurting them, not this many.

But seeing him hurting like this is breaking her heart.

With an angry yell Ari breaks away from the ones holding her and grabs onto the closest man with the liquid nitrogen there is to her, trying to force his arm away, still screaming for them to stop. Someone comes up from behind her and grabs her around the middle, pinning her arms to her sides. She keeps struggling, even when she is lifted off of the ground she tries to kick her attacker.

_Please, don’t take him from me._

Something sharp pokes into the side of her neck and she feels a burning coldness start to coarse through her veins.

The last things she’s aware of before her mind floats into blackness are Simmons orders to freeze that “thing” for transport, the look of pain in Sideswipe’s blue optics, and his screams ringing in her ears.

_Please…._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	8. A Spark of Foreboding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this works. Like I said before, I'm on vacation this week with my family and the place we're staying at has really crappy wifi. I keep getting booted off the internet. Depending on how this goes, you might get another chapter Thursday or Friday.

Ari wakes up to a gentle rocking motion and the feeling that something odd is on her head. Her eyes blink open adjusting to the early morning light. How long had she been out? Last she remembered it was night. There had been government agents and helicopters and guys with big guns that shoot rope that tied Sideswipe down. He had been captured. She had been captured.

_Sideswipe…._

There is an awful kink in her neck as she lifts up her head. She’s sitting down, strapped to a chair with a harness. Looking to the left she finds that the rocking motion is the feeling of flight. Ari is sitting in a helicopter going…probably nowhere good.

“You alright?” a feminine voice with a distinct Aussie accent asks, sounding staticy in her ears. Ari lifts her hands to her head. She’s wearing a huge pair of headphones with a mic attached so she can talk to the other people with her. Looking around she sees that there are five of them. Two agents, one on either side of her, and across from her is a heavyset black man, an older gentleman in a suite that looks government and slightly familiar but doesn’t give off the whole evil-government-organization vibe, and a pretty blonde woman who must have been the one to talk.

“Yes,” Ari says, her voice sounding hoarse. She coughs to clear it and then asks, “Who are you? You don’t look like Sector Seven.”

“The name’s Maggie,” she says with a smile, holding out her hand. Ari hesitantly takes it holding on with the lightest of touches and letting go as soon as what would still be deemed polite. Maggie then elbows the black man next to her.

“I’m Glen,” he says with just a simple wave, rubbing the spot where he was elbowed and glancing at Maggie indignantly out of the corner of his eye.

“And I’m Defense Secretary Keller,” the older man says, also sticking his hand out for a shake. Ari shakes his hand longer this time only because she’s in slight shock.

“Defense Secretary Keller?” Ari asks, eyes wide. “As in, the Secretary of Defense for the United States?”

His eyes light up with amusement. “The one and only. Didn’t recognize me?”

Ari blushes slightly and looks down at her lap. “Sorry, sir, no I didn’t. My, uh, my dad doesn’t let me watch T.V. or anything so keeping up with elected officials and current events is kind of harder than it is for most people.”

“You don’t watch T.V.?” Glen asks in horror. “Man, I’d be lying in an early grave if I couldn’t watch T.V. Please tell me you at least have the internet.”

“Yeah, I do. But I’m only allowed on long enough to do homework.” The three of them give her odd looks and Ari shifts in her seat uncomfortably, not liking where the topic is going. She decides to change it. “So do any of you know where we’re going?”

“No,” Maggie says with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. “And these two,” she gestures to the two agents sitting beside Ari, “won’t talk. Just said that we’re going to Sector Seven headquarters wherever that is.”

Ari sighs and looks out to her left again. She can see another helicopter with them but no aircraft large enough to transport Sideswipe. What did they do with him? Is he even going to the same place she is?

“So what’d they get you for?” Maggie suddenly asks, trying to keep the conversation going.

Ari shifts her eyes back to her. “Bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot.” She shrugs. “Who knew?”

Glen mouths the word “wow” breathlessly, but, other than that, no one else really knows how to respond.

After a while they try to ask her more questions but Ari just tunes them out, staring at the passing landscape so far below, pretending not to hear and hoping Sideswipe is alright.

* * *

 

Once they land they are then transferred to a couple of vehicles to drive the rest of the way to, apparently, the Hoover Dam. Ari, Maggie, and Glen lean over the side of the dam to look at the long drop like so many tourists around them do. They then all follow the agents to where a couple of soldiers stand at attention, who had been in the other helicopter. Secretary Keller goes over to talk to them while Ari is stopped by Simmons.

“Hey kid,” Simmons says, placing a hand on her shoulder so as to appear friendly. He doesn’t. Ari shrugs him off and takes a step back. Simmons sighs in annoyance. “Look, I think we got off to a bad start, huh? You must be hungry. You want a latte? Ho-Ho? Double venti macchiato?”

“Where’s Sideswipe?” she asks with crossed arms.

Another agent comes up to them, having been listening from behind Simmons, and says without introduction, “I need you to listen to me very carefully. People can die here-”

“Exactly,” she says, cutting him off. “A lot of people _are_ going to die while you’re busy sitting here wasting time with me and Sideswipe. What you should be doing is helping us. Take me to Sideswipe and let us go.”

“We can only help you if you tell us what you know. We need to know everything you know. We need to know it now.”

“Only if you give me Sideswipe.”

The agent lets out an impatient huff and starts to back away. “Come with me. We’ll talk about your car.”

“He’s not just a car,” Ari says as she follows. “His name is Sideswipe and he’s a person just like you and me.”

Neither of the agents respond to her as they go to join the others and introductions are made. She doesn’t catch all of the soldiers’ names but only because she is half paying attention, worrying about Sideswipe. What they could be doing to him. Images from what she remembers of E.T. keep flashing through her mind, of the wrinkly alien looking deathly pale and sick.

They head down an elevator to the base of the dam. As they head towards a tunnel going inside Simmons says, “All right, here’s the situation. You’ve all had direct contact with the NBEs.”

“NBEs?” one of the soldiers asks, the black man by the name of Epps if Ari remembers correctly.

“Non-Biological Extraterrestrials. Try and keep up with the acronyms.”

As they walk Ari stares at the back of Simmons’s head. Non-Biological Extraterrestrials. That name was prepared. Before last night. This isn’t the first time they’ve seen Cybertronians.

And Ari only knows of one who’s been on Earth longer than the Autobots, Sideswipe, Barricade, and any of the Decepticons who are hunting the AllSpark now.

If _he’s_ here things are going to get very bad.

They go through a long dark tunnel and when they come out on the other side the agent from before, who she now knows as Banachek, says, “What you’re about to see is totally classified.”

And totally part of Ari’s worst nightmare, in more ways than one. Standing on a platform in the middle of the room is a frozen Cybertronian as tall as Optimus. She recognizes him, from the hologram Optimus showed her back in the alley. It’s Megatron. Leader of the Decepticons.

She gulps and follows the others to get closer, although she really doesn’t want to. She feels that just by looking at him wrong Megatron will suddenly wake up.

“We think when he made his approach over the North Pole,” Banachek continues, “our gravitational field screwed up his telemetry. He crashed in the ice, probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1934.”

“We call him NBE-1,” Simmons says proudly.

“Uh, sir,” Ari speaks up from the back of the group and everyone turns to look at her. “I don’t mean to correct you on everything you think you know, but that’s Megatron. He’s the leader of the Decepticons. And you’re sure he’s not going to wake up, right?”

“He’s been in cryostasis since 1935,” Banachek says. “Your great-great-grandfather made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind.”

_And then got remembered as a lunatic. Lovely. Though I wouldn’t call finding Megatron a very good discovery. Should have left him in that ice._

“Fact is, you’re looking at the source of the modern age,” Simmons adds. “The microchip, lasers, spaceflight, cars, all reverse-engineered by studying him. NBE-1,” he looks at her pointedly. “That’s what we call it.”

Keller speaks up in annoyance, “And you didn’t think the United States military might need to know that you’re keeping a hostile alien robot frozen in the basement?”

“Until these events, we had no credible threat to National Security,” Banachek answers coolly.

“Well you got one now.”

“So why Earth?” a soldier with messy brown hair asks before an argument can break out. She remembers that his name is Lennox.

“It’s the AllSpark,” Ari says.

“AllSpark?” Keller asks. “What is that?”

That could be a very long explanation. She tries to scramble together a short version of what the Autobots have told her so far. “Well, it’s a cube-shaped artifact of theirs. Basically their source of life and is necessary for the continuance of their species. NBE-1 here, a.k.a. Megatron,” Ari pointedly looks at Simmons, “that’s his _real name_ , is basically the harbinger of death and wants to use the Cube to transform human technology to take over the universe. That’s their plan.”

Simmons gets in Ari’s face uncomfortably and she takes a few steps back. “And you’re sure about that?” he asks, shifting from foot to foot.

“Yeah,” she replies quietly and then her eyes narrow, observing his sudden jittery demeanor. “You know where it is, don’t you?”

There is a pause and then Banachek says, “Follow me.”

They all follow the agents down another tunnel, much larger than the first, as Ari’s mind begins to race. The AllSpark is here. This is fantastic. All she has to do is grab it, find Sideswipe, bust out of here, and meet up with the Autobots.

But how does she do all of that by herself?

“Hey,” someone says and Ari looks up to see that Lennox has fallen into step beside her at the back of the group. “Your name’s Ari, right?” She just nods. “So you know a lot about these guys?”

She looks down at her feet timidly. “Yeah, I met the first Autobot that came to Earth a few days ago.”

“Autobot?”

“As a race, they’re called Cybertronians, but they are divided into two groups a lot like America was during the Civil War. There are the Autobots, the North, who want to spread peace and prosperity. Then there are the Decepticons, the South, who want destruction and the enslavement of any species they see as inferior to them, which is basically everybody.”

“Where are the Autobots now? Something tells me we could use all the help we can get.”

“Out there somewhere heading towards the Cube’s location.” Something obvious finally clicks in Ari’s head and she looks up at Lennox with a smile. “Which I guess would mean they’re on their way here. Good thing, too. I don’t think I can save Sideswipe from these wackos by myself.”

Lennox’s brow furrows. “Who’s Sideswipe and what did Sector Seven do to him?”

Ari looks away sadly. “The first Autobot I met that I told you about. He’s my friend. When Sector Seven came for me because of my involvement in all of this Sideswipe tried to protect me. Instead, he ended up getting captured, too. Cybertronians really aren’t all that different from humans, but I don’t think these guys even see them as living beings. They’re probably doing all kinds of experiments on him now.”

“Don’t worry, Ari. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Lennox tries to put a comforting hand on Ari’s shoulder but she sidesteps him. Lennox stops walking and she stops walking too, though several paces away from him. “You okay, kid?”

“Yeah, I just…don’t like being touched.” She bites her lip, refusing to meet his eyes.

Lennox eyes her suspiciously but then shrugs it off and continues to walk.

They catch up to the others just as they enter a white brick room with pictures on one wall and a glass window on the opposite overlooking a large, cavernous room. Through the window, sitting several stories high, taller than any Cybertronian Ari has ever seen, she can see the AllSpark.

Yeah, definitely going to need help moving that. They have to have a way of transporting it somehow.

Banachek starts talking again but Ari doesn’t pay attention. She just keeps staring at the Cube, her mind empties and a kind of ringing starts in her ears. There’s a slight pull in her chest like she’s drawn to the AllSpark. It reminds her of the tugging she felt back at the car lot when she first technically saw Sideswipe even though she didn’t know it was him at the time.

Someone’s hand lands on her shoulder and she lets out a squeak of fright and quickly takes several steps away. She turns around, wide eyed, to see Lennox standing there with his hand still in the air, staring at her in surprise.

“Uh,” he says, “we’re heading someplace else.”

She nods and quietly follows the rest of the group. They head into a metal room that looks like some mad scientist’s lab where the agents show them what they’ve figured out they can do with the Cube’s energy by taking Glen’s phone and turning it into a Cybertronian. The little guy starts attacking the metal and glass box, trying to escape, until Simmons kills it with pleasure. Ari’s fears for Sideswipe strengthen tenfold.

Suddenly, distant banging can be heard seemingly coming from outside, and they are very far underground, followed by the lights flickering.

“It’s the Decepticons,” Ari says barely above a whisper, dread turning her stomach sour. “They know the Cube is here.”

Banachek goes over to a radio and presses a button to speak, “Banachek. What’s going on?”

“Well,” someone says on the other end, “the NBE-1 hanger has lost power-”

“What?” Banachek asks angrily.

“-and the backup generator is just not gonna cut it.”

“Do you have an arms room?” Lennox asks.

* * *

 

They all hurry out of the room and run down the hallways to the arms room. All the way Ari can’t help but chant in her head _Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, Primus, no. The Autobots need to hurry up and get here. No, I need to get Sideswipe so we can get the Cube out of here and get to the Autobots before the Decepticons catch up to us._

When they get to the arms room all of the soldiers and the S-7 agents that are prepared for combat scurry around getting weapons together while Ari watches from the sidelines. She needs to get to Sideswipe. She needs to get to him _now_.

There is another bang and the lights flicker again.

Ari decides enough is enough. She goes up to Simmons, who is loading a grenade launcher, and demands, “You’ve got to take me to Sideswipe.” He ignores her. “You have to take me to Sideswipe. He’s going to know what to do with the Cube.”

He finally glances at her, “Your car? It’s confiscated.”

She clenches her fists angrily. “He’s not a _car_ , he’s a living, breathing person. You can’t just confiscate him. This is unjust imprisonment.”

“I don’t care what you think. We do not know what will happen if we let it near this thing!”

“You don’t know, but I do.”

“Yeah, but I don’t.”

“You just want to sit here? Wait and see what happens?”

“I have people’s lives at stake here, young lady.”

“Yeah, and if you don’t give the AllSpark to the Autobots we’re all _dead_! You hear me? _Dead!_ ” Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares at her. “We can’t do this. Not by ourselves. How many Decepticons have you all fought at one time? One? Well, there’s going to be a lot more of them now. And they’re waking up Megatron, who is scarier and tougher than all of them _combined_. We need help. We _need_ the Autobots. Now fragging _take_ me to Sideswipes _now_!”

Simmons still shakes his head, “I don’t-”

Lennox suddenly comes up to them and roughly grabs Simmons by the front of his vest. “Take her to Sideswipe,” he demands, the words coming out in a growl. Lennox drags Simmons over to a nearby car and shoves him against it.

Everyone starts taking out their guns, the S-7 agents pointing them at Lennox, the soldiers pointing theirs at the S-7 agents, and Lennox pointing his at the nearest agent.

Ari stands frozen, the situation having spiraled out of control faster than she thought possible.

“Drop your weapon, soldier,” Simmons orders. “There’s an alien war going on and you’re gonna shoot me?”

“You know, we didn’t ask to be here.”

“I’m ordering you under S-7 executive jurisdiction-”

“S-7 don’t exist,” Epps says.

“Right,” Lennox agrees, “and we don’t take orders from people that don’t exist.”

Simmons rolls his eyes. “I’m gonna count to five-”

“Well, I’m gonna count to three,” Lennox moves his pistol to point it at Simmons’s chest.

“Simmons?” Keller pipes up.

“Yes, sir?”

“I’d do what he says. Losing’s really not an option for these guys.”

Simmons looks back and forth between Keller and Lennox and then nods reluctantly. “Alright. Okay. Hey, you want to lay the fate of the world on the kid’s Corvette? That’s cool.”

Lennox finally lets Simmons go, turning to give Ari a smug half-smile.

She gives him one of her rare, full-out grins. She’s finally going to get Sideswipe back.

* * *

 

When they enter another large room Ari is not prepared for what she sees. Before she even gets through the door she hears painful whirling noises she knows are coming from Sideswipe. He’s lying on his back on a big table with people all around him shooting cold streams of liquid nitrogen at him. It’s obvious they’re hurting him and they just don’t care.

She runs up to the nearest guy and forces his arms down. “Stop it! Stop! Stop hurting him!” With Banachek’s orders they do all finally stop.

With the pain from the cold gone Sideswipe begins to move, turning his head to get a look at the people in the room, the people who had been hurting him. He raises himself up on one elbow. One of his cannons pops out from the top of his other arm, swerving between people, ready to fight off anyone still wishing to do him harm.

All of the humans, the scientists, the agents, Lennox and the soldiers, they all stand around, waiting to see what happens, waiting for the worst.

She walks up to him without fear. “Sideswipe,” she says with a clear voice that pierces through the fight-or-flight mode he seems to be in. His optics instantly find her and when they do he freezes, his optics brightening. Ari smiles. “It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you anymore.” And then she holds her arms out to him. Without hesitation Sides puts his cannon away, sits up, and lifts her into his arms.

Ari breathes a sigh of relief, finally feeling the worry and fear melt away from her tense muscles as she’s placed sitting on his forearm, his other arm coming up to hold her to him with his hand cupping her head gently. She presses her face against the warm metal of his chassis above his spark allowing the soothing heat to seep into her skin.

She finally has him back. They’re both finally safe.

“Are you okay?” Sideswipes asks softly after a few moments.

“Am _I_ okay?” She looks up at him incredulously. “I believe the more important questing is are _you_ okay? They looked like they were hurting you so much.”

He glares at the scientists still standing around him and then gives her a soft smile. “Nothing I can’t handle. This is nothing compared to what the Decepticons can dish out. Now answer my question. What about you?”

“Oh, come on, Sideswipe, you should know me by now.” She presses her face against him again. “You know I’ve been through worse.”

“Ari?” She looks down to see Lennox walking up to them hesitantly with a questioning look on his face.

Well, slag, she probably shouldn’t have said that part loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. But oh well. They can’t possibly figure everything out based on that.

“Hey, Lennox.” She gestures for Sideswipe to put her back on the ground and when he does she says, “Lennox, there is someone I would like you to meet. Lennox, this is Sideswipe. Sideswipe, this is Lennox. He’s a soldier who helped me… _convince_ Sector Seven to let you go.”

Sideswipe nods to the man. “Thank you for your help.”

Lennox starts to relax, having decided that everything really is okay with this bot, and flashes a half-smile. “No problem. But we should probably get down to business.”

“Right.” Ari looks up at Sideswipe. “Sides, the AllSpark is here. Sector Seven has had it all this time. But the thing is, they have Megatron here, too, and the Decepticons are waking him up _right now_. We need to get the Cube out of here before he wakes up and gets to it.”

Sideswipe stands up on his wheels. “Let’s get going then.”

* * *

 

They all head to the hangar containing the AllSpark with Ari sitting on Sideswipe’s shoulder and the others clearing a path for the large bot as they go. Once there Sides gazes at the Cube with complete awe. Ari wonders how long it’s been since he’s last seen it, but either way the Cube is like a holy relic to them.

Sideswipe puts her back down on the ground next to Lennox and Epps so he can approach the AllSpark. He reaches up with both hands and when he touches it an electric current rushes through the Cube outlining a grid of squares. Then, one by one, the Cube starts folding in on itself following the square pattern until it is the size of Sideswipe’s palm.

“Alright,” he says. “I’ve already let the others know that we’ve got the AllSpark. Where to next?”

“Mission City is twenty-two miles away,” Lennox says. “We’re gonna sneak that Cube out of here and we’re gonna hide it somewhere in the city.”

As the others talk over specifics Ari goes up to Sideswipe who kneels down in front of her and holds out the Cube to her.

“Look after this, will you?” he says.

She looks at him questioningly. “You sure?”

“Yeah, once we get into Mission City it will be easier for you to find somewhere to hide with it.”

Ari takes the AllSpark in her hands and as soon as she touches it arcs of electricity shoot out into her arms. Sideswipe instantly takes the Cube back. “You alright?” he asks worriedly.

“Yeah,” she says, inspecting her hands for signs of harm and then rolling up her sleeves to do the same. “Didn’t hurt just…felt weird. Like a burst of adrenaline was shot into my veins. But I’m fine. Didn’t even leave a mark.”

“Hey, Ari, we’re about ready to…,” Lennox lets his sentence hang and he stops mid-stride a couple feet away, his eyes fixed on something.

Ari’s brow furrows as she follows his gaze. Then her eyes widen in horror, realizing what it is he sees. He’s staring at her arms, her still uncovered arms, with her scars in full view. Quickly she pulls her sleeves back down and then takes several steps away until she is huddled up against the side of Sideswipe’s leg.

Lennox blinks a few times and then looks her in the eye. “Ari…where did you get those…scars?”

“Just leave it,” she says, her voice not sounding nearly as strong as she meant it to.

His face hardens and he takes a few steps forward. “Where did you get those scars?”

She shakes her head fervently.

“Ari,” Sideswipe says quietly. “You have to tell someone.”

Fear tightens her chest. “No I don’t. I already told you and the others. That’s enough.”

“Yes, you do. You want us to help you with this and part of that will be letting the other humans know what is going on. So why not tell Lennox?”

She shakes her head again.

Sideswipe sighs. “Go finish getting your men ready, Lennox. Let me talk to Ari.” Lennox gives them one last look filled with confusion and worry and then does as he’s told.

Sides picks Ari up in one hand and brings her up to his face. “Why don’t you want to tell him?” he asks softly so that no one else can hear. “Are you afraid?”

Ari nods, her eyes focused on her lap.

“Why?”

“I-I’m afraid of…what he’ll think. What any of them will think.”

“And what do you think they’ll think?”

“That I’m ugly and disgusting. That they’ll just say ‘you poor child’ and then move on. That they won’t care. That I’m not worth helping. That I’m weak.”

“Oh, Ari,” he presses his forehead to hers and she closes her eyes, feeling tears starting to surface. “Why would you think that? That didn’t happen when you told me and Sunny. Or when the other Autobots found out. And I already told you, this doesn’t make you weak. It makes you strong.”

She opens her eyes and stares into his optics helplessly. “Sides, you don’t understand. It’s so hard to think that with these… _things_ ,” she hold out her arms indicating her scars, “covering me. They’re disgusting and I’m ashamed of them, ashamed of me, ashamed that I let them happen, that I let any of it happen. And that’s what they’ll think. They’ll be ashamed of me, too.”

“No they won’t,” he says sternly. “And you know why?”

She shakes her head no, a hand coming up to brush away some of the tears that have escaped.

“Because no one could ever do something like that, not to you. Ari, out of all of the humans I have met so far you have the biggest heart out of all of them. When you realized I wasn’t just a car you could have run away screaming, but you didn’t. When we asked you to help us find the AllSpark you said yes without a moment’s thought. We were strangers to you, stranger and more unknown than anyone you have ever met before, and you still helped us. You became our friend. Not many people would do what you did. Just look at these S-7 creeps. Anyone who’d turn you away or think little of you is as horrible as a Decepticon. And I don’t think this Lennox guy is like that. He’s a lot like you actually. He helped you save me when he had every reason to be just as scared as everyone else. So don’t turn your back on him, Ari.”

He makes it sound so easy. Is it really that easy? Or is it as hard as what Ari thinks? To tell someone she is being abused by her father? Telling the Autobots was one thing, but telling humans…it feels like another thing entirely. But why should it be? How is it that she can trust aliens more than her own species? It’s not like they’re all like her father?

Are they?

And all that stuff he said about her being the nicest human he knows. He hasn’t exactly had much of a chance to meet a lot of nice humans. But she certainly isn’t the nicest human in the world. There are a lot of other people a lot better than her.

But there is some truth to what he’s saying. Lennox is nice. Not like her father. Should she tell him? Trust him?

Ari sniffles and then nods slowly. “O-okay. I won’t make any promises but...I’ll try.”

Sideswipe smiles. “Good. But for now, we need to deal with one problem at a time and that’s getting the AllSpark out of here. You ready to go?”

Ari wipes at her face one last time and then sets her face in determination, ready for whatever lies ahead. “Let’s do this.”

He hands her the Cube, this time without the sparks, and then transforms with her still sitting in his hand to where, when he’s done, she is sitting in his driver’s seat. She sets the Cube in the passenger’s seat and the seat belts click themselves into place around her and the Cube.

With a loud rev of his engine Sideswipe takes off down the tunnel leading their caravan of soldiers out onto the open road heading towards Mission City.

Towards the battle that will determine the fate of the human race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	9. The Battle of Mission City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are no idea how lucky you are to be getting this chapter today. I'm still on vacation and the wifi here is down. I had to transfer the chapter from my computer to my phone via bluetooth and then use my phone to update. It's taken me a while but I did it.
> 
> This chapter is the last chapter where there are actual scenes from the first movie, so I guess you can say this is the end of Transformers 1. Next chapter will start to go through events immediately following the battle that they only glossed over at the end of the movie, like where they all went after the battle, S7 getting taken apart, and all that.
> 
> Remember the Temporary Character Death tag this cgapter, Jazz fans. Remember. I only use the Temporary one for a reason.

Not far into the drive the other Autobots catch up to them and join their procession of vehicles. Thanks to their speeding it’s only about another five minutes until they make it to the busy freeway just outside the city. The Autobots and soldiers merge into the heavy traffic while trying to stay together as best they can. Ari turns to look out the back window when a blur of black and white catches her eye. She locks onto it, a black and white cop car that is gaining on their line of cars. There is no mistaking who it is.

“Frag,” Ari says. “Sides, it’s that same cop car from before. It’s Barricade.”

Sideswipe growls. “I thought we got rid of him.”

“I guess not. And it doesn’t look like he’s alone.” Driving alongside Barricade is an armored vehicle that is using a claw-scoop-thing at the end of a robotic arm to shovel cars out of the way. 

“That’s Bonecrusher. We have to make it into the city before he catches up to us.”

Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide move to block the two Decepticons from advancing further, but then Bonecrusher transforms, using the wheels at the back of his heels as skates so that he glides across the pavement. He goes out of his way to barrel through a bus, breaking it in half and instantly setting the two pieces on fire. Ari swears she sees a smile on his face for the destruction and death he just caused.

As Bonecrusher gains on them Optimus transforms, ready for a fight. Bonecrusher tackles him and they both tumble off of the overpass they are on. Ari tries to keep them in sight, wanting to make sure Optimus is okay, but they keep driving towards the city and soon the two mechs are gone.

“Optimus will be okay, right?” Ari asks, her eyes still looking back, searching, even though she knows it’s useless now.

“Pit yeah. Optimus can take care of Bonecrusher with his optics closed. He’ll finish him off and meet back up with us in Mission City in no time.”

Ari faces forward again just as buildings start to surround them. They head towards a pawn shop so that Lennox can stop and get radios in the hopes of contacting any military aircraft in the area. They keep moving through the city until a jet flies by overhead. Everyone stops and gets out. Ari does as well with the AllSpark in hand, determined not to let it out of her sight.

Lennox releases a canister of green smoke among their group while Epps attempts to contact the jet with his radio.

“Raptor, raptor, do you copy?” Epps says, eyes intent on the jet. “We have you visual. Green smoke is the mark. Provide air cover and vector Black Hawks for extraction.”

There is no answer and Ari gets a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It is confirmed when Ironhide transforms and shouts, “It’s Starscream!”

Civilian humans start to panic at the sudden appearance of a giant robot but Ari knows they’re about to have something else to be afraid of. Starscream is heading towards them to make another pass, to fire at them. Ari and the soldiers fall back while Ironhide and Sideswipe move in front of them, holding up a semi-truck to use as a shield.

Starscream fires two missiles, the first one missing but the second one hitting the semi head on. The impact sends everyone falling, Ari being thrown into the side of Sunstreaker’s alt mode since she was standing right next to him. Dust rises into the air and she sees stars for a few moments, her head spinning. Once everything clears she gets to her feet, her hands instantly grabbing onto the AllSpark again. 

“You alright?” Sunstreaker asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She looks Sunny over. “Didn’t even give you a scratch.”

“You better not have,” he says with a huff. “Something tells me I’m about to get enough of them. Don’t need you humans giving me some, too.”

Ari chuckles and then looks over the destruction, the soldiers who are getting back on their feet, and picking out the Autobots one by one to make sure they are alright. Ironhide is still in one piece, though she knows it would take a lot to bring him down.

“Where’s Sideswipe?” Sunny suddenly asks and Ari looks at him in confusion. He sounds worried and Sunny never sounds worried. “He’s hurt. Bad. I can feel it.”

Her breath hitches and she looks out over the destruction again until her eyes catch a flash of silver. “There!” she points towards the form of Sideswipe crawling out of a dent he make in the side of a delivery truck and she rushes towards him. Sunstreaker transforms and follows behind her.

When she’s a few feet in front of Sides she notices his legs. “No….,” she says in horror, tears prickling at her eyes. His legs, they’re just…gone. “Ratchet!”

“I don’t think Ratchet has time to fix this,” Sides says with a half-smile. “Looks like I’m out of this fight.”

Sunstreaker shakes his head. “Idiot. What were you thinking, getting yourself trashed like that?”

“Trust me, I had other ideas.” 

Things start to explode again and they look over to see a tank coming down the street. The soldiers and the remaining Autobots, besides Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, get ready for a fight.

Sideswipe gets himself sitting up against a pile of rubble with this shattered legs lying out in front of him. He looks at Ari with pleading eyes. “Ari, you’ve got to go.”

“What?” she asks in disbelief. “No! I’m not leaving you!”

“You have to. You have to keep the AllSpark safe. You need to get out of here before the Decepticons find it and you.”

“No, I’m not leaving you! You would never leave me so I’m not going to leave you!”

“Ari-”

She shakes her head defiantly. “No!”

Sideswipe looks at his brother. “Sunny, you have to take her.”

“No way, mech,” Sunny says. “I’m not leaving you either. What would you do if a Decepticon decided to attack you?”

“This isn’t about me!” Sides snaps angrily. “This is about saving everyone! If the Decepticons get a hold of it, then all of this is for nothing.”

Ari squeezes her eyes tight, not wanting to hear it. She knows that if she hears it a part of her will agree with him. She should leave, get the AllSpark somewhere safe. Not just to save them, but the entire human race. The whole planet. Pit, the whole _universe_. That’s what’s at stake. If the Decepticons aren’t stopped here, then there will be no stopping them.

But she can’t just leave Sideswipe. She’s afraid that if she does, if she leaves him here with no legs, so completely vulnerable, he’ll die. 

All around her there are explosions and gunshots and cries of pain and metallic noises. And in the middle of it all Ari cries at her complete helplessness. She’s so tired of feeling helpless. She was helpless to keep her mother from leaving. She was helpless to keep her father from drinking and then beating her. She has always been helpless. And now she is helpless to save Sideswipe. Her first friend, someone she cares about more than anyone and who actually cares about her in return. There is nothing she can do to help him.

Her shoulders shake as tears stream down her face.

A few land on the AllSpark.

A blue glow starts to filter in through her eyelids.

“What the frag?” she hears Sunstreaker say.

Ari opens her eyes to see the AllSpark…glowing. There are several Cybertronian symbols carved into the Cube and the one that is larger than all the rest is glowing a soft blue. Then another, smaller symbol on the same side begins to glow. And then another on a different side starts to do the same. And then another, and another, and another, until there are seven symbols glowing in all, the large one and six smaller symbols, one on each side of the cube. The glowing symbols begin to dim, all except for one of the smaller symbols. It glows brighter. 

Others have started to notice what’s going on. The battle ceases for a moment as humans and Cybertronians alike stare at the AllSpark in wonderment, none of the Cybertronians seeming to ever have seen something like this happen before.

Sparks arc out of the Cube, a lot like they did when Ari first touched it, except now they reach out for Sideswipe. They caress his leg until the remarkable happens. Before their eyes new metal and wire begins to form. Sideswipe’s legs grow back. Once the process is complete the glowing and sparking stops.

Sideswipe gets up on his new legs, bending at the knee several times to test them out and they seem fine. “What the frag just happened?” he asks in awe.

“I don’t know,” Ari says, looking down at the Cube in her hands. “But I’m glad it did.”

_Thank you, AllSpark…or Primus…or whoever just did that. Just…thank you._

Everything begins to move again. The Decepticons resume attacking, Megatron coming out of nowhere to take a few swipes at the Autobots.

His red optics lock onto Ari holding the AllSpark. She gulps. He had seen it, too.

The tank Decepticon gets back up. Another Decepticon, this one a helicopter, lands on a nearby building.

Things are getting pretty bad.

“Ari,” Lennox yells, running towards her. 

“Did you see what just happened?” she asks him.

“Yeah, yeah, I did, but that’s another confusing discussion for another time. We have to get the Cube out of here but I can’t leave my guys. Take this flare,” he hands the red flammable stick to her. “Okay, there’s a tall, white building with statues on top. Go to the roof. Set the flare.”

Ari looks down at the flare and the Cube in her hands and then back up at Lennox. She nods. “Alright. Where is this building?”

Lennox points it out to her. She licks her lips anxiously. It’s several blocks away. “We’ll hold them off, you just run straight for that building and signal the chopper with the flare, alright?”

“O-okay.” She looks up at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, with Ironhide and Ratchet now standing next to them.

“Ari, we will protect you,” Ironhide says.

Sideswipe gives her a wide grin and unsheathes his blades. “You know we will. You have nothing to fear.”

Ari takes a deep breath. She is scared out of her mind. So much could go wrong between here and that building. She could die trying to do this. But she has to. It’s like her great-great grandfather used to say: No sacrifice, no victory. She must be willing to sacrifice herself now if she is ever going to make it. If they are ever going to defeat the Decepticons once and for all.

She returns Sideswipe’s grin. “Let’s do this.”

And then she takes off running.

Ari weaves around debris as she runs for her life, explosions sounding too close for comfort behind her. The Decepticons know she has the AllSpark now and they are coming after her for it. But she has four Autobots covering her. She can make it. She can make it.

The Decepticon chopper lands down the street and fires. Ironhide steps in front of Ari and blocks the attack with a car but he ends up falling to the side in the process. Ari doesn’t know how injured he is but there is no time to check. The chopper transforms and flies by right over her head.

She just keeps running as fast as she can.

After another block Starscream lands right in front of her and she’s forced to stop and roll to the side to avoid the cars he shoves out of his way and straight at her.

Ratchet and Ironhide step up to fight him off while Ari gets up again to run with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker on either side of her making sure she gets away.

The building is only a few blocks away when Ari chances a look at a passing alley. Something catches her eye and she stops to get a better look. She knows those faceplates.

It’s Jazz, lying in two pieces, in worse shape than Sideswipe was, with energon pulling beneath him.

“Ari, we can’t stop,” Sunstreaker says impatiently. He fires off a few shots at a Decepticon behind them with his blaster. “We have to keep going.”

“But it’s Jazz,” Ari says while running up to the fallen Autobot. His optics are barely still online. “I have to help him.”

“There’s no time,” Sides says. “Ratchet will take care of him later. We have to get you and the Cube to that building now! We can’t stop or the Decepticons will get you.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need two minutes.” She gives them a wry grin. “Surely the infamous twins can hold off a few Decepticons for that long.”

She knows she has them when they look at each other with matching mischievous optics. “You know we can,” Sunny says. “Come on, Sides, lets show these mechs who they’re dealing with.” And then they fall out of sight of the mouth of the alley, but she knows they won’t go too far. 

Ari turns back to Jazz, placing a hand on his arm. The metal is so cold, unlike the warmth she knows there should be.

“Please,” she whispers. “Whoever is listening, please, help me like you did before with Sideswipe. I don’t know if it was the Cube itself or maybe even Primus, but I could use your help again. Jazz is going to die if you don’t help him now.”

Nothing happens for a minute and she starts to think that maybe she was wrong. But then the same symbol as before starts to glow. She stares down at it with a smile. Arcs of blue energy reach out for Jazz’s two halves, lifting his legs back over to the rest of his body and joining them back together. When everything stops Ari stares at the vacant optics hoping she wasn’t too late.

They blink blue once, then turn off again. They blink again, several times in the same second, and then go dark. Then they turn on, staying on this time, and Jazz coughs as his ventilation system starts to kick in again.

Jazz groans as he sits up, rubbing his head with one hand. “Wha’ happened?” he asks. “Thought I was on mah way back to the Well o’ Sparks.”

“Not quite, Jazz,” Ari says with a soft smile. “You can’t leave us yet. Still too many Decepticons who haven’t gotten a piece of you yet.”

“You know tha’s right.” He gets up on his feet, unsteady at first, but then finding his balance. “Need an escort, lil’ lady?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind. I think my original two are probably a little tied up at the moment.” They head back out of the mouth of the alley and see that, yes, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are engaged with fighting off a Decepticon, twin grins on their faces as they work together with twin blades to fight him off. Ari catches Sideswipe’s optic and she nods to him. He nods in acknowledgment and she takes off towards the building again with Jazz by her side. Once he sees her safely inside he goes off to join the fight with the rest of them.

It’s an old abandoned building with nothing inside. Ari wonders what it used to be as she heads across the huge space to a hallway that hopefully leads to the stairs, but her thoughts are interrupted when she hears a voice, “Give me the Cube, girl!”

Ari doesn’t have to look back outside to know that it is Megatron.

She runs towards the stairs with added urgency.

As she makes it into the hallway of the second story she hears a loud crash of glass shattering. “I smell you, girl.”

All of a sudden the floor right behind her explodes upward, the wood splintering into pieces as Megatron breaks through. Ari makes it into a small stairwell that appears to go straight up to the roof just in time.

By the time she makes it all the way up to the roof Ari’s legs feel like jelly from all of the flights of stairs but she still keeps going as fast as she can. She can’t afford to stop for anything, not even to rest for a second. Making her way across the roof she hears the sound of the chopper approaching. She hits the end of the flare against the wall she runs alongside and the pink flame comes to life. “Hey! I’m over here!” she calls out. 

She keeps running, flare held high, to the edge of the roof where another chopper appears from below to pick up her and the Cube. She drops the flare and takes the Cube in both hands, reaching out beyond the edge of the roof to the man in the helicopter reaching out to take the Cube. They are just centimeters apart.

Then Ari sees Starscream fire a missile. She leans back. “Watch out!”

But they are too late. The missile collides with the top of the helicopter. Ari falls to the ground as the helicopter swerves, the tail end going over the roof and the back propeller barely missing her. She gets back on her feet and begins to run again just as Megatron catches up to her, crashing through the roof of the building from underneath. 

He has her, has her trapped. She needs a place to hide. Seeing no other option, Ari gets up on the edge of the roof and eases herself behind one of the statues in the corner, barely hanging on by her fingers and toes. She tries to stay quiet despite her fear of falling backwards but it hardly matters.

“Is it fear or courage that compels you, fleshling?” Megatron says, the sound of his metallic footsteps clearly indicating he is approaching her, her attempt of hiding proving fruitless. “Give me the AllSpark and you may live to be my pet.”

His pet? That doesn’t sound like a very good option. Then again, falling to her death doesn’t sound like a very good option either. But Ari already knows what it’s like to be a pet. It would be no different than what she was to her father, someone to use and abuse whenever he pleased. And she will _never_  go back to that life.

“I’m never giving you the AllSpark!” Ari answers.

“Oh, so unwise.” Megatron then raises his weapon and severs Ari’s little corner from the rest of the roof.

She screams as she falls backwards, keeping the AllSpark clutched against her chest. She wishes the Cube would give her the power of flight, but she highly doubts it can do that. Ari spins through the air, head over heels, down, down, down.

Then something catches her. Ari’s heart races as she gets her bearings back. She is being held in Optimus’s hand from where he hangs against two buildings.

“I’ve got you, Ari,” he says as he holds her firmly against his chest. “Hold onto the Cube!” And then they are falling down again, with Optimus jumping from building to building, skidding down the sides to slow their decent.

A couple of stories from the ground Megatron falls on top of them from above, causing all of them to hurtle towards the ground. Ari lands on top of Optimus’s chest, Megatron not far away from them. All around there are people’s screams.

Ari gets up on her knees and looks at Optimus. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” he says. “You risked your life to protect the Cube.”

“No sacrifice, no victory.”

“If I cannot defeat Megatron, you must push the Cube into my chest. I will sacrifice myself to destroy it. Get behind me.”

Ari doesn’t like the sound of that plan but she does as she is told, getting off of Optimus to hide in a large gash in the earth.

“It’s you and me Megatron,” Optimus says as the two Cybertronians get to their feet.

“No,” Megatron replies, “It’s just me, Prime.”

“At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall.”

Megatron hits Optimus, sending him into the side of a building. “You still fight for the weak.” He grabs Optimus by the back of his shoulders and flings him aside. “That is why you lose!”

Things aren’t looking good, but Ari stays still. She won’t destroy the AllSpark by killing Optimus. She won’t, not unless it’s the absolute last resort. And she doesn’t believe it will come to that. Not while she still has something to say about it.

Jets arrive, friendly, non-Decepticon jets this time, and shoot at Megatron. The soldiers shoot at him as well, causing him to fall back. Debris is falling really close to where she is hiding so she makes a run for Optimus, getting behind him again. Megatron come for her, making a grab for her, but Ari ducks down so that he misses. 

Ari is now lying on the ground, both Optimus and Megatron crawling towards her.

“Ari, put the Cube in my chest!” Optimus tells her. She looks at him wide-eyed. No, she can’t do that. “Now, Ari!”

Megatron is coming right over top of her and she makes her choice.

Ari goes up to Megatron and shoves the Cube into _his_ chest before he has a chance to stop her. The Cube collides with Megatron’s spark, the two energies overheating each other, and they both disintegrate. Megatron cries out in pain as his lifeforce slowly dies.

Ari cries out in pain as well. There is a searing heat coursing through her body, originating from the AllSpark in her hands. Blue energy is flowing from the Cube and into her, wrapping around her limbs and dissolving into her skin. There is a blinding light and she closes her eyes against it, but still she sees it. Then, in the light, there is a figure, no, _figures_ , and one of them says something to her.

_“Power such as this can never be destroyed, only transformed.”_

Next thing Ari knows it is over. The pain is gone, the AllSpark is no longer in her hands, and Megatron is lying dead at her feet. A quiet descends over everyone. The whole battle appears to be over now, now that the leader of the Decepticons is dead.

Ari slowly backs away and closer to Optimus. He walks towards Megatron, looking at the dimming red optics sadly.

“You left me no choice, brother,” he says quietly. He then leans down in front of her. “Ari, I owe you my life. We are in your debt.”

She smiles at him. “I don’t know how it works on Cybertron, but here on Earth, friends never owe each other anything. Besides, there is already something you promised you’d help me with.”

Optimus smiles back at her. “And we will keep that promise.” He stands to address the gathering soldiers. “We have gained many new comrades this day. Thank you. All of you. You honor us with your bravery.”

Among the Autobots Ari sees a pair of silver and yellow mechs and she happily runs up to them, arms held out. Sideswipe grins and picks her up into his arms.

“We did it,” she says happily as she’s placed sitting on his forearm. 

“No,” Sideswipe says, “You did it, Ari. It’s finally over.”

Ari frowns. He’s right, it’s over. So…now what? What’s going to happen to the Autobots? What are the world’s leaders going to do? How will they react? Will they let the Autobots stay or will they insist they leave? And what about when the Autobots fulfill their promise to her? What will happen to her then? And will she ever see them again? 

Will she ever see Sideswipe again?

“So what now?” she asks, her stomach twisting in knots anxiously.

“Well, I actually have an idea about that.” Sideswipe looks to Optimus. “Permission to speak, sir?”

Optimus finishes fishing one lone AllSpark shard that survived in Megatron’s chest and then replies, “Of course, Sideswipe. What is it?”

“When all is said and done I would like to stay with Ari.”

Ari gapes at Sideswipe, mouth and eyes wide. “B-but what about the Autobots? And Sunstreaker? You can’t just leave them.”

“I’ve already thought a lot about this, Ari, and with Megatron gone now the decision is only made easier. Things will finally be settling down now that the leader of the Decepticons is gone. All that will be left is to pick off any stragglers that are already on Earth or ever end up here. Megatron was the strongest among them, so with him gone they won’t be able to come back in full force again. The Autobots won’t need me to be around all the time, but if they do need me I’m just a quick Comm Link away. As for Sunny, well,” he looks over at his brother, “he actually said he’s going to come with me.”

Ari’s brow shoots skyward.

Sideswipe chuckles. “I know, right? I was surprised, too. Yeah, it’ll be easier on us since distance causes our bond pain, but he really needs more of an excuse than that to stay out of the fight.”

“Hey, I’ll probably be helping out the Autobots a lot more than you,” Sunstreaker says. “So it won’t be so bad. But the main reason I agreed is because I know how you two feel about each other. Keeping you apart would be more painful than keeping us apart.”

Ari and Sideswipe look at him blankly. “What are you talking about?” they both say at the same time.

Everyone cracks up laughing, Autobots and humans. Sunny shakes his head. “Wow, you’re perfect for each other. Both dense in the processor. Maybe another reason I should go with you is to help things along. Looks like you’re both going to be clueless without a little help.” Everyone laughs harder at that but Ari and Sideswipe still look at him with questioning looks. They look at each other for a few moments and then shrug. 

Whatever it is they’re sure they’ll figure it out eventually.

“So,” Sideswipe says, getting back on topic. “Can I stay with Ari?”

“If that is her choice,” Optimus says.

Sideswipe looks into Ari’s pale blue eyes with hope shining in his optics.

Ari grins at him. “There is nothing I could ever possibly want more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	10. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back home so, yay, internet again. Thought I'd post again in celebration. 
> 
> This chapter starts the series of events that will be taking place between the first and second movies. In my universe it's a little over two years time. I'll be taking the time to show how Ari grows as a character and how her relationships grow during that time so the second movie won't be showing up for a while yet. The first, second, and third movies are all part of this same fic though.

Not long after the end of the battle a bunch of Sector Seven agents in white vans show up. The clean-up crew. They make sure to gather any evidence suggesting an alien presence, including the corpses of all of the fallen Decepticons, and they sweep through the city looking for any and all witnesses. How they’re going to cover everything up, exactly, Ari isn’t sure. But she’s glad she doesn’t have anything to do with it.

While the agents get to work Ari, the soldiers, and the Autobots all get herded back to Hoover Dam for a debriefing. Banachek and Simmons insist on knowing exactly what went down, so as soon as they enter the hanger the humans get hauled off into separate rooms to await questioning while the Autobots are kept in the hanger where some agents are setting up a camera and several monitors.

The Autobots are to meet with the world leaders.

Ari is worried what the rest of the humans of the world will say to the Autobots coming to live on Earth. Will they be as openhearted and understanding as Ari? Not likely. Not after all the things she’s seen Sector Seven do. But there is always a chance that S7 is just a bad penny. Besides, it’s not like humans will really be able to make the Autobots do anything they don’t want to do, although she knows that Optimus does plan on being compliant with the world’s leaders as much as possible. The last thing he wants is to cause a war between all Cybertronians and humans. Then it would be like everything they have been working for since arriving on Earth was for nothing.

But she doesn’t get to think on if for long because she then gets shoved into her own room, looking a lot like an interrogation room with a table, a chair on either side, and a security camera looking down on her in the corner. Ari is left in there alone for a little while. When it will be her turn for questioning, she has no idea. She just hopes it won’t be Banachek or Simmons to question her. She debates on taking a nap while she waits but the chair she is forced to sit in is uncomfortable, like the plastic chairs they have in school. Still, she lays her head down on her folded arms on the table to at least attempt it. How long has it been since she last slept? She hardly remembers now. Ari wracks her brain. The last time she remembers sleeping was more of a forced sleep, when S7 drugged her. She woke up that morning on the helicopter at around sunrise. The sun had just been beginning to set by the time they made it back to the dam. So that would make it, what, twelve to fifteen hours? And most of that was running for her life. Never has she felt more exhausted than now. She sniffs her arm. And she could really use a shower. Lifting her head back up she realizes she never really did get a good look at herself. What she sees doesn’t really surprise her considering all of the explosions and falling and rolling around on the ground: she’s absolutely covered in dirt, barely being able to recognize her once red shirt. And she’s covered in fresh cuts. Those are going to need cleaning soon. Maybe once all of this questioning business is over with she can go see Ratchet. Maybe he has some aspirin for the headache that is starting up in her temple too.

The door to her little room opens and in steps a suite-clad agent with short-cropped brown hair.

“Hi,” Ari says, trying for polite, but she gets no response. All he does is sit down in the chair across from her and sets a recorder on the table.

He frowns at her, though he’s been frowning since he entered the room, and his eyes look bored. Even his voice sounds bored when he speaks, “Tell me everything that happened since you left base.”

“Will I be able to go see the Autobots when we’re done?” she asks.

He says nothing.

She sighs. Might as well get this over with.

A very long time later, Ari isn’t really sure how long since sometime during this grand adventure she lost her phone, Ari finally finishes telling her side of things. Though she left out the part about some of the AllSpark stuff with the light and seeing those figures and hearing that voice. No need to sound crazy like her grandfather. But everything else she was truthful with.

“So, can I go see the Autobots now?” she asks again.

The agent says nothing, just turns off his recorder, gets up, and leaves. Ari tries to follow after him but when she tries the door handle she finds it locked.

_Oh, great, now I’m a prisoner again._

With nothing else she can do she sits back down to play the waiting game again. It’s starting to feel a little on the warm side in her little room making her tempted to roll up her sleeves but with one glance at the security camera she decides not to. The last thing she wants is for whoever is watching her, and she’s sure someone is, to see her scars. It’s probably that creepy Simmons, too.

What feels like an hour later her door opens again, this time Banachek walking in. And he does not look happy.

“So,” he says tersely, standing over her without bothering to sit down, “one of our greatest discoveries breaks out of our facility, we hand over our crown jewel to you, and _then_ you go and destroy them both. That about sums it up, right?”

She pretends to think it over for a minute and then nods. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

He narrows his eyes at her. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Yeah, I saved all our afts. What would you rather me have done? Just hand the Cube over to Megatron?”

“I would rather you not have destroyed something irreplaceable. We made so many important discoveries and technologies by studying NBE-1 and the Cube.”

She rolls her eyes. “So you’re mad that I destroyed your toys and your money magnets instead of just being happy that, by destroying them both, I saved the world? There was no way around it, Banachek. It was either the Cube and Megatron, or the Earth. I chose Earth. Slag, even Optimus chose Earth and he and the Cybertronians had a lot more to lose than a little money. They lost the chance to continue their race. And, news flash, the Cube was never yours to keep.” He opens his mouth to speak but she cuts him off. “And don’t even think about giving me that finders-keepers crap. Sure, that works for a while, but when the real owner of an object comes around wanting it back most _nice, decent_ people would hand it over.”

Banachek lets out a frustrated sigh and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He then points at the door. “Just get out. The agent in the hall will show you where to go.”

Ari happily does as she’s told, hoping she’s going to be led to the Autobots, but instead she’s taken to where the soldiers, Maggie, and Glen are all gathered, in a large room with a long table with several chairs around it, looking like some sort of conference room.

Before her escort leaves she asks him, “Where are the Autobots?”

“They are still talking to the world leaders along with Defense Secretary Keller, going over the creation of a treaty that will contain the terms of their being able to stay on Earth,” he says stoically.

She brightens at that. They’re going to let the Autobots stay! “When will I be able to see them?”

He says nothing and leaves.

She groans and goes to sit down in the empty plush leather seat next to Lennox. She’s tired and cranky and just wants to go curl up in Sideswipe’s interior and sleep for a week. Is that too much to ask?

“Hey, Ari,” Lennox says with a smile but his eyes show he’s just as tired as she is. Everyone at the table is. “How you holding up?”

“Could be better,” she grumbles tiredly. “They won’t let me go see Sideswipe and the others.”

“I’m sure they’ll let you go soon. Here,” he hands her a paper plate and a sandwich from the platter on the table. “You should probably eat something after all that energy you burned.” He pushes over a bottled water as well.

Her stomach growls loudly in response. “Guess I really am hungry. Thanks.” She then chows down on her ham and cheese.

As she eats she starts tuning in to the conversations going on around her and they are strangely…normal. Ari doesn’t know what she was expecting after having gone through an alien war together, but she didn’t expect everyone to just start talking about their lives. She finds out that Glen lives with his grandmother, which doesn’t surprise her except for the fact she half expected it to be his mother’s basement. Maggie is an analyst who was hired to work for the NSA right out of college. Epps is married with no kids so far but they’re trying. Epps didn’t seem to Ari like the kind of guy who would settle down. Lennox is also married and he has his first little girl waiting to see him for the first time at home. He had been overseas during the birth.

“What about you?” Epps asks, staring at Ari.

A slight blush dusts her cheeks at suddenly being the center of attention to so many eyes. “What about me?”

“What’s your home life like? You know, parents, annoying siblings, the works.

Ari shifts in her seat uncomfortably, eyes darting around the room looking for a way out. She had been sort of contemplating telling Lennox about her situation at home, but to tell _all_ of these people? She doesn’t think she can do it. So, what, should she lie and tell Lennox the truth later in private? Should she just not tell the truth all together?

She opens her mouth, not really knowing what her decision is yet, when the door opens to reveal Banachek. Ari sighs in relief. That had been close. And maybe now she can get them to take her to the Autobots.

“You will all be allowed to go home soon,” Banachek says, taking a few steps into the room.

“It’s about time,” Epps mutters.

“We’re just making a few final preparations to help make your trips home a little easier.” He then looks at Ari. “Speaking of which, your father is here. We had taken him in when we first came to…collect you. He has been informed of everything so there will be no need for you to keep secrets from him. I’ll have an agent send him in in a few moments.” Banachek then leaves again.

Ari sits in her seat in shock, her eyes still trained wide-eyed on the now closed door, mouth slightly open. Her father. He’s here. He’s _here_. And they’re going to send him in. Meaning she’s going to have to see him again. She’s going to have to face him on her own. And they’re planning on her going home with him.

She was so glad when Mission City was over but now she would happily go back.

“I have to get to Sideswipe,” she whispers. She gets up and goes to the door. Turning the handle she finds that it’s locked. Of course. “Let me out!” she yells while banging on the door with the palm of her hand. “Please, you have to take me to the Autobots!”

“Ari,” Lennox says but she doesn’t pay any attention. “Ari!” he tries again but she just keeps banging on the door and shouting to be taken to the Autobots. He gets up and grabs her shoulders. “Ari, calm down.” As soon as he touches her she lets out a small scream and yanks herself away from him. She backs away until her back hits the wall. Lennox raises his hands, palms out, and speaks in a soothing voice, “It’s okay, Ari. It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

She wraps her arms around herself. She’s begun to shiver and she can’t seem to get it to stop. “J-just d-don’t touch me.”

Epps gets up to stand next to Lennox, ready to help. “We won’t. We’ll just stand right here. That alright with you?” Ari nods and Lennox lowers his arms. Epps gives her a friendly smile. “Now, you mind telling us what’s going on?”

 _Just shut your emotions down and tell him, Ari. Don’t think about it and just let the words out. It was so easy before with Sideswipe. Why is it so fragging difficult now? I thought the first time was supposed to be the hardest._ Her eyes dart to the other people in the room behind Lennox, all of them staring at her like she’s gone nuts, waiting to see why.

Lennox follows her gaze and then looks back at her. “What, you don’t want to say with all of them here?”

Ari shakes her head no. No, she can’t do it. She can’t tell everyone. She can’t let _everyone_ know how weak she is.

“Alright, then we’ll-” Lennox’s words are cut off by the door opening again.

A man is let in and then the door is closed shut.

It’s her father.

“Arianna,” Ron says, his face and voice full of concern. “Arianna, I was so worried about you.” He wraps her in a constricting hug and she just stands there without returning the embrace.

It’s all an act, she knows, one he has played many times before and can do so very well. But she can always tell just by looking into his dull brown eyes. There is no love and concern there.

“The agents told me everything,” he says, still holding her. “That your car was actually an alien robot. How awful. I hope those monsters didn’t hurt you, did they?”

Bile rises in Ari’s mouth but she forces it down. Sideswipe, a monster? No, Sideswipe wouldn’t hurt her in a million years. The real monster is holding her right now and he’s just waiting for the chance to hurt her again. She can tell by the way his hand comes up to her messy hair and tugs painfully at the long locks. He wants her to say something, to keep the act going herself.

But she just can’t do that. Not anymore.

Ari shifts her head discretely so that she can look around Ron’s shoulder at Lennox. He’s looking at the father and daughter with observing eyes. Hope flutters in Ari’s chest. He can sense something is off. Then he’ll be able to understand Ari’s pleading stare.

Lennox returns her gaze, still with those critical eyes, for only a few seconds when they widen in understanding. He looks at Epps and there is understanding in his eyes as well. And then their entire demeanors harden. Lennox clears his throat loudly to get Ron’s attention. “Sir?”

Ron finally lets her go, gives her a cold glare, and then turns to the captain with seeming friendliness. “Yes?”

“There’s a few more things we still need to go over with your daughter about what happened today,” Lennox says, his soldier training allowing him to act professional without letting his anger get the best of him.

“Alright, what is it?” Ron refuses to take the hint, instead placing an arm around Ari’s shoulders. Her entire body tenses under his touch.

Lennox’s jaw clenches. “We need to speak to her _alone_ , sir.”

Ron looks the two soldiers over, assessing just how serious they are, and gives a strained smile. “Very well.” He places a kiss on Ari’s head and then puts his mouth next to her ear to whisper, “Tell them anything and you’re _dead_.” He then goes over to talk politely to some of the other soldiers.

Lennox motions Ari over and she follows him and Epps to the far corner of the room as far away from her father as they can get. She places her back to the wall again, the sturdy structure comforting, and Lennox and Epps stand in front of her completely blocking her view of Ron.

“Can you see him?” Epps asks quietly.

“No,” she whispers.

“Then he can’t see you,” Lennox says just as quietly. “If you can’t see his face, he can’t see yours. We talk quietly enough and he won’t hear what we say. He won’t have any idea what we’re talking about or what you tell us.”

Ari’s eyes dart back and forth between Lennox and Epps, settling longer on Epps as she bites her lip.

Epps scoffs in exaggerated hurt. “What, you’ll tell my man, Will, here but you won’t tell Uncle Rob? That’s harsh, Ari. Real harsh.” His antics bring a small smile to her lips and he grins back at her. “You can trust me, Ari. Promise.”

She thinks it over for a second and then nods. She’ll tell Lennox and Epps, but no one else that isn’t absolutely necessary.

“Now tell me truthfully, Ari,” Lennox looks her directly in the eye. “Is what’s going on what I think it is?”

Ari slowly nods.

Lennox and Epps exchange glances, proud to have guessed it right but hating the answer.

“For how long?” Epps asks.

“N-not with him here,” Ari pleads. “Get me to the Autobots and I’ll tell you everything. They said they would take care of me, help me. They have some of the evidence, too.”

“Now how are we supposed to do that? We’re in a locked, guarded room. We don’t even get to go out to use the bathroom since there’s one connected to this room already.”

“We’ll just have to think of something,” Lennox says. “Ari’s right, it’s too dangerous to do this here with him in the same room. We need a plan.”

A loud explosion echoes throughout the building. Seconds later sirens go off.

“These guys just don’t quit, do they?” Epps says and all of the soldiers head towards the door, Ari not far behind.

“What was that?” Ron asks and starts to follow them.

“I don’t think so,” Lennox stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “You, you, and you,” he points at Maggie, Glen, and Ron, “stay here. If this is the Decepticons back for a rematch I don’t need civilians getting in the way.”

“And you’re going to let my daughter go?” Ron asks, his anger starting to show.

Epps steps closer to Ari but is careful not to touch her. “Could be that they’re just here for round two in general. But it’s more likely that they’re here for a reason. Ari took out their leader, Megatron. I don’t know about you, but if someone took out the President of the United States, America would send out the troops to bring the rain in a heartbeat.”

“Then shouldn’t she stay here where it’s safe?”

“Safe would be with the Autobots,” Lennox replies, though Ari can tell there is so much more he wants to say with that.

The door opens and they turn to leave, thinking it’s just Banachek who’s come to get their help.

Instead they see Sideswipe’s and Sunstreaker’s holoforms standing there with triumphant grins on their faces. Though Ari is the only one to actually recognize them.

She also recognizes those grins, whether they be holoform or bot.

“Sides, Sunny, what’s going on here?” she asks suspiciously.

Lennox looks at her in surprise. “You know them?”

“You all do. It’s Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Their holoforms, if you want to get technical.”

“Yep,” Sides says cheerily. “It’s just us. Easier to get around small spaces like human-sized hallways this way.”

The soldiers look at them, a little in shock, but slowly nod in acceptance.

“So what are you doing here?” Ari asks. “Let me guess. There is no actual attack, is there?”

Their twin grins widen. “Nope,” Sides answers. “Just a little diversion we whipped up is all. We finished discussions with the leaders of Earth and wanted to see you but the S7 goons wouldn’t let us. So, we came to bust you out.”

Ari laughs. “Oh, Primus, what did you two do?”

Sunny shrugs. “Nothing much. Just a paint bomb.”

“Where did you get a paint bomb?” Epps asks.

“We made it from some parts we got from one of the vehicles in the hanger we’re being kept in. The paint we found in a supply closet.”

Ari shakes her head. “You two are ridiculous. But you do have good timing. I’ve been trying to convince Sector Seven to let me visit you guys for hours.”

“ _You!_ You are not taking my daughter anywhere.”

Oops. Ari forgot her father would recognize them as well.

Sideswipe catches sight of her father standing near the table at the back of the group and grins. “I was hoping we would run into you.” He pulls some kind of rubber ball out of his pocket and steps protectively in front of Ari. Ron starts to stalk towards them, the act gone and full furry unmasked on his face.

“You guys might want to back up,” Sunny tells the others.

Oh, slag.

Ari quickly motions for the soldiers to back up as far as they can away from the two holoforms. Her father pays no attention and just goes right up to them, pulling his fist back to make a punch.

He doesn’t get a chance to. Sideswipe tosses the ball at him and it explodes right in his face, coating the entire front of his body in pink paint and knocking him to the ground.

Epps goes over to check on him. “Looks like he’s out cold. How much explosives did you use? And where did you get _pink_ paint?”

Sides rubs the back of his head. “Probably too much for when throwing it in his face but at least now we don’t have to deal with him anymore. And we didn’t find any pink, but there was a lot of white and a little bit of red. We just mixed them together. Thought they needed some brighter colors in this place. Now how about we get out of here?”

“Right, you guys stay here,” Lennox says to the other soldiers. “If he wakes up do _not_ let him go anywhere. Understood?” They all nod.

“Alright, guys,” Ari says to Sides and Sunny. “Lead the way.”

The prank works wonders, not a soul is in sight as they make their way through the hallways towards the Autobot hanger. Still, they keep at a brisk jog and check around corners just to be sure. Though Ari has a hard time going so slow. With each step she takes the stress of the day catches up to her, the kidnapping, thinking the worst had happened to Sideswipe, the battle, almost getting killed several times, the strangeness with the AllSpark, having to face her father. _Especially_ having to face her father. Any minute now he could wake up and be after her. If he’s really determined a couple of soldiers aren’t going to stop him, not since he already has Sector Seven convinced he’s a good guy. He’ll demand to have her back and they’ll hand her over without question.

She’s practically at a run by the time they make it to the tunnel leading to the right hanger, Sideswipe keeping pace with her. When she makes it into the open space the holoform blinks out and Sideswipe’s alt mode instantly stands up.

He knows what she wants without her having to do anything. Sides picks her up and wraps her securely in his arms. It’s the only place she feels safe anymore.

“Are you alright?” Sideswipe whispers.

“Not really,” she says. “It’s just, after everything that’s happened today and then Ron showing up and S7 saying I was going to be going home with him soon.” She looks up at him, panic clear in her pale blue eyes. “Don’t let him take me, Sideswipe. Don’t let them make me leave with him.”

Sideswipe tightens his grip on her. “That’s not going to happen. I promise.”

“As do we,” Optimus says, walking up to them. “We made you a promise, Ari, to keep you safe from your father, and we intend to keep it.”

Ari sighs with relief and closes her eyes tiredly, leaning her head against Sideswipe’s chassis. “Thanks.”

“You do not look to be at optimal functioning capacity,” Ratchet says. “My sensors indicate you are running at a temperature hotter than what is deemed healthy to your species. I should run more thorough scans to distinguish a cause.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t bother, Ratchet. It’s probably just stress. Nothing a little sleep won’t cure.”

“But the soldiers seem to be fine.”

“That’s because they’re used to this sort of thing.”

“Excuse me,” Epps says, “but I’m not used to giant alien robots shooting at me.”

Ari chuckles softly. “Okay, well, you’re better at handling it than me, how’s that?”

“Still not so sure about that. You did good out there today, kid, including facing your old man.”

“Speaking of which,” Lennox says. “You going to tell us the whole story now?”

Sideswipe looks down at Ari. “You’ve decided to tell them? Both Lennox and Epps?”

Ari nods. “Yeah. Considering everything, I don’t have a choice anymore. It’s now or never.”

Everyone gathers around her, including the Autobots. They know what’s going on but have never seen the extent of the damage it has left on her skin, except for Ratchet with his scans that is.

The first step is always the hardest. Whoever said that, Ari doesn’t know, but it’s so very true. One step, that’s all it takes and everything will be out in the open. But it’s just so _hard_. It’s hard to admit her weakness. It’s hard to admit that she’s broken. Especially when this isn’t something anyone can just fix. But it’s a step she has to take if she’s ever going to get away from Ron. If she’s ever going to move on.

If she’s ever going to get the chance to heal.

So, she gets Sideswipe to set her down, she stands on her own two feet, and rolls up her sleeves. She can’t look at them as she does it, can’t see their reactions, but she does hear Epps let out a string of curses. Ironhide does the same, at least she thinks he does since he speaks in Cybertronian.

Lennox steps up next to her, as close as he dares without making her uncomfortable. She can see his boots as she continues to stare at the ground. “Ari,” he says. “Ari, look at me.” She does. “You see this scar?” He points to a jagged line of light pink tissue just above his right eyebrow. “I got it when I was seventeen. My dad decided to throw a beer bottle at me and I wasn’t fast enough.”

She lowers her arms, staring at him wide-eyed. “You…your father abused you, too?”

He nods. “Started when I was fifteen after my mom died of cancer. My dad never recovered. Turned to the bottle instead. Lasted until I was eighteen when I enlisted in the army. He died while I was in training. He was driving drunk and drifted into oncoming traffic.” He lowers his head so his eyes are level with hers. “I’m telling you all this so you believe me when I say I understand how you feel. You’re scared and confused. Don’t understand why your dad would do this to you. There’s nothing you can do to stop it, although you feel like there should be, so your inability to say or do the right thing makes you feel useless and weak.” She flinches. “But let me tell you something. You are _not_ any of those things.”

Her brow furrows. “How can you say that?”

“Because what you’re doing right now, showing me and Epps, making the decision to get away from your dad, it shows how strong you are. You’re a lot stronger than I was. I just endured it until I was old enough to run away. I never told anyone, not until my wife, Sarah, came along. So don’t let anyone, not even yourself, say that you are weak. Because you’re not, Ari. You really aren’t. What happened isn’t your fault. It’s his. And there was nothing you could have done to stop it except what you are doing right now.”

Ari stares at him in shock, uncertain what to say. She hasn’t even known Lennox for twenty-four hours and he’s already one of the strongest people she knows. He’s fought in wars, human and now alien. Not many people would be able to fight against giant alien robots and live. Not many people would stand up for a girl they hardly know either. Or save a complete stranger who’s also an alien.

So when he says _he’s_ the weak one compared to her, that he wasn’t strong enough to stop his father’s abuse, it’s…incomprehensible.

Tears form in Ari’s eyes. One leaks out, slowly falling down her face leaving a warm trail that quickly turns cold. Another soon follows on the opposite cheek. And then another and another. Uncontrollable sobs begin to escape from her chest. She tries to hold it all in, but there is no stopping it. It’s just too much emotion all at once. All she can do is cover her face with her hands and let it all out.

“It’s okay,” she hears Lennox say. “Everything is gonna be okay.”

* * *

 

Once she calms down Ari tells the whole story from the beginning. Things get…interesting a few times. Like when she shows them the scars on her stomach. Optimus has to basically order Ironhide not to go hunt down the “fragging human” and terminate him. Then there’s when she has to explain the events that led to her finally deciding to get out. She has to tell them about her father almost…raping her. It’s almost harder than first showing them her scars. Lennox and Epps understood right away and use every ounce of their military training to not go after her father themselves. The Autobots, of course, don’t understand, so Sideswipe and Sunstreaker explain it to them quietly over the Comm Link.

Then Ironhide transforms and starts to speed down the tunnel. It takes Optimus, Jazz, and Ratchet together to drag him back. Ari laughs harder than she ever has before. She can understand why Sideswipe and Sunstreaker like to pull pranks on Ironhide. He can be hilarious when he’s mad. So long as it’s not directed at them.

When Ironhide is back in the hanger, under Optimus’s watchful optic, Epps keeps the laughter going and topics switch over to the more jovial. It’s like back in the conference room all over again except now the Autobots are with them. They talk about their lives, both before and during the war, although avoiding the topic of the war itself. There’s a lot of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker talking about their pranks, which Lennox and Epps find amusing. Ironhide, not so much, but he tolerates it.

They’re trying to keep Ari happy, she can tell, and just the thought of that makes her happy. It’s like…they’re a family. They actually care about her like family is supposed to.

But the happy atmosphere is shattered when a group of people come from out of the tunnel. Secretary Keller, Banachek, Simmons, and Ron. Ron is still covered in paint, looking about ready to wring someone’s neck because of it, but when he sees the Autobots for what they really are his face pales and he stops several feet behind the others. Ari can’t help but smirk but his presence still makes her feel uneasy, making her stick close to Sideswipe’s leg.

Lennox and Epps salute to the Defense Secretary. “Sir,” they say together.

Keller dismisses them with a tired wave of his hand, looking worn out from the day’s events and the long discussions between the Autobots and world leaders after.

“What are you three doing in here?” Banachek demands angrily. “You shouldn’t be in here. You should be in the conference room with the others.”

“We were discussing some important information with the Autobots,” Lennox replies evenly.

“You do not have authorization to be in here!”

“Stand down, Banachek,” Keller says. “I believe after today these three have earned a little leniency.” Banachek shuts his mouth and Keller smiles before continuing. “Now, Captain Lennox, I have something I would like to discuss with you.”

“Yes, sir?” Lennox says.

“As you know, earlier today the Autobots and the leaders of the world created a treaty outlining the terms and conditions to their being allowed to stay on our planet. This included the creation of a special task force made up of Autobots and human soldiers from around the globe that will be in charge of neutralizing any existing and forthcoming Decepticon threats. This task force will be funded by a number of countries, but the United States is going to be a majority contributor, meaning we will be put in direct responsibility for its running. General Morshower has already agreed to the job but we still need someone to directly oversee its operation. I have nominated you, Lennox. Morshower agreed that you are our best option considering your experience in the past but also especially today. So what do you say, soldier? Are you up for the job?”

Lennox stands in slight shock at such an offer. He looks up at Optimus in thought and then he looks at Ari. She’s not sure why he would look to her for advice on what to do in a situation like this, but she gives him a small smile and a nod. Ari knows it will be a lot of responsibility thrust upon his shoulders but she agrees with Keller, he’s perfect for it.

He looks back to the Secretary. “I accept, sir.”

Keller smiles. “Very well. I shall see to the particulars of your reassignment. Exactly where the base for the new task force will be has yet to be decided, but when it is it will be several months before everything is operational. Until everything is ready you have been taken off of active duty and may spend the time with your family. You will be notified when you will start your new position.”

Lennox fights the smile threatening to grace his face but it is hard. He salutes. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Speaking of going home,” Simmons says, “you all should be able to start heading that way soon. Just need to fill out a nondisclosure agreement then you can get out of our hair. Good riddance if you ask me. If I _ever_ find out who did the paint bomb,” he eyes everyone suspiciously, especially Ari since she’s having a hard time not laughing, and apparently Sides and Sunny are good at bluffing, “you are going to be mincemeat when I’m through with you.”

Keller, Simmons, and Banachek turn to leave, but Ron does not, instead walking forward with purpose towards Ari.

“Come along, Arianna,” he says, keeping his eyes on her and away from the Autobots. “You heard him, it’s time to go home.” He reaches for her arm but Sideswipe is faster, reaching down for her and lifting her up to sit on his forearm.

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Sideswipe growls.

Ron looks up at him in shock and no little amount of fear, but then anger quickly takes the foreground. “She is _my_ daughter and she is coming with me. You cannot hold her captive.”

“It’s not captivity if I want to stay,” Ari calls down nervously. She’s not sure how well this is going to go, but if she’s going to get away from him, the time would be now.

The two agents and secretary turn back to look at Ari curiously. Simmons sighs and walks back to stand next to her father. “Look, I know you’re all chummy with the aliens and whatnot,” he says, “but you can’t stay here. It’s time for you to go, little lady.”

“She can’t leave with him,” Lennox says. “Her father has been abusing her.”

The three of them stand there in silent shock.

Keller looks between the father and daughter. “Is this true?”

Ari nods. “I-it is.”

Ron looks at her in cold fury. “This is ridiculous! I would _never_ abuse my own daughter. This is some kind of corruption caused by those monsters!”

Ari’s own anger flashes in her pale blue eyes. “I’m not lying. It’s the truth. We have proof.”

“And what would that be?” Banachek says, unconvinced.

Ratchet steps forward. “I have taken in-depth scans of Ari’s body that dictate she has been severely injured multiple times during the past ten years.” A hologram shines down from his optics to appear in front of the men showing a summary of his results.

Ron crosses his arms in front of his chest. “And we’re just supposed to take the word of a bunch of aliens?”

“I’m sure if your own doctors conduct their own examinations they will find the same results.”

“Her being hurt still does not mean that I am the cause.”

“Maybe not,” Sideswipe says, “but this does.” He turns on his own hologram while quickly covering Ari’s eyes to keep her from seeing. The quick glance she gets of the footage of her father’s bedroom taken through the window with her father on top of her on the bed is all she needs to know as to why. She turns her face towards his chassis. Sideswipe is showing them what he saw the day Ron almost raped her. Nothing can be heard, but it is clear to everyone what was going on.

When it is finished Sideswipe lowers his hand again. Ari can see the sickened faces of Keller, Simmons, and Banachek.

Then all Pit breaks loose.

Ron punches Simmons, the closest target, instantly sending him down, and runs towards the exit. But before he’s even a tenth of the way there Epps is tackling him to the ground with Lennox right behind, a pair of handcuffs given to him by Banachek in hand and quickly placed around Ron’s wrists.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Epps says as he hauls Ron to his feet. “So, where do you want him?”

Simmons gets to his feet, shifting his aching jaw back and forth to make sure it still works. “We have a nice little detention center for scum like him.” He then takes Ron by the arm and begins to drag him away with Ron kicking and screaming all the way.

“I am truly sorry for what has been done to you,” Keller says to her. “How long was it going on for?”

Ari sighs, wondering how many times yet she’s going to have to go through all of it, but figuring it necessary. “About ten years.”

He nods sadly. “I’ll contact Child Protective Services and alert them to the situation. Is there any other family you would like me to call that can take care of you?”

“No,” she says sadly. “My mother left a long time ago and I have no other living relatives.”

“You don’t want me to call your mother?”

“No. She’s no better than him.”

He nods again. “Very well. You’ll have to be placed in a foster home then.”

Ari gulps and leans into Sideswipe further. “Can’t I just stay with the Autobots?”

“We would be more than happy to take care of her,” Optimus agrees.

“Not in a million years,” Banachek says. “No court would ever agree to that. What would a bunch of aliens know about taking care of a human girl?”

Optimus sighs but nods, knowing it has to be the humans’ decision. “Then at least allow Sideswipe to accompany her. He has already expressed his wishes to become her permanent Guardian and Ari has accepted.”

“That can probably be arranged,” Keller says. “So long as Sideswipe does not reveal himself to anyone, understood?”

“Of course,” Sideswipe says eagerly.

“No.”

Everyone looks at Lennox in surprise, shifting from foot to foot in agitation.

“Lennox, it’s okay,” Ari says, trying to sound cheerful. She doesn’t like the idea of a foster home either. “I have nowhere else to go. This was inevitable, you know that.”

“No, it’s not.” He looks at Keller with determination etched into every muscle, ready for a fight if necessary. “I’ll take her in.”

Ari gasps. “What?”

Lennox looks up at her. “You can stay with me. I have a big farmhouse only a few hours’ drive from here and I already know my wife won’t mind.”

Banachek raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “Really?”

“You don’t know my wife,” Lennox says with a smirk.

Ari stares down at him, hoping beyond hope. She has to ask again, just to be sure. “Are you sure? I mean, I won’t be any trouble or anything?”

“Of course it’s no trouble, Ari. After today you’re practically family anyway.”

Ari grins at him brightly in gratitude.

But before she can say anything her headache she’s had for the past several hours suddenly spikes. She cries out in pain, clutching her head with both hands. It feels like someone is driving a hot poker through her skull and then the heat of it is slowly spreading throughout her body. The heat gets really intense on the inside of her left arm right below her elbow.

Several people call out her name, asking what’s wrong. She knows one of them is Sideswipe but she can hardly make reality out anymore. There is only the pain.

And a voice.

_“Power such as this can never be destroyed, only transformed.”_

And then everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, another cliffie, but if you love me enough I'll give you the next one quick.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	11. Marked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For your continued love, as promised, another chapter.
> 
> I remember writing this chapter. It gave me a hard time, not really sure why, but it was difficult to get it the way I wanted it. I mess with canon in this one, using wikis and making things up to create a bended version of the AllSpark, Primus, Unicron, and the seven Primes that fits with my story. Hopefully you guys still like it.

A searing light shines through Ari’s eyelids, abruptly bringing her back into consciousness. She groans, eyelids fluttering open, as she tries to discern her surroundings. Once her foggy mind clears she sees that the bright light is the sun hanging high in the sky, turning the air hot and dry. When did she end up outside?

The surface she is lying on shifts with every movement and she sits up, getting a good look around.

She’s in the middle of a desert at the base of several mountain peaks that have seemingly been weathered over hundreds of years to where some of the jagged rocks look like teeth pointing up to the sky.

She stares around her in disbelief. “What…the…frag…?”

A soft chuckling floats on the wind to Ari’s ears with a slight robotic edge to it. Out from behind the mountains six Cybertronians step forward. They look to be old, older than any Cybertronian she has ever seen before, with skinny, almost skeletal frames that give them a fragile appearance. However, the graceful way in which they move and the authoritative air that surrounds them makes Ari believe they hold a hidden strength not determined by appearances. The strange headdresses they wear, not unlike those worn by pharaohs of ancient Egypt, only cement this idea.

Ari gets to her feet warily, dusting the sand off of her jeans. “Who…Who are you?”

“We are the six original Primes,” one of them says, the one who had chuckled by the sound of his voice, “created by Primus himself and we, in turn, used the AllSpark to create the rest of the Cybertronian race.”

“I thought there were seven of you? That’s what Sideswipe told me.”

Another Prime sighs sadly, this one distinctly feminine. “Yes, in the beginning there were seven, but the seventh was corrupted by Primus’s brother, Unicron, and turned against us.”

“Who’s Unicron?” When she and Sideswipe got to talking about the origin story of the Cybertronians she had been fascinated, but there’s only so much she could learn in a couple of hours. All she knows is about Primus, the original Primes, and the AllSpark.

“There is no time for that,” a burly-looking Prime says agitatedly, the largest of the six. “The human femme will wake up in a few moments.”

“Wait, I’m asleep?” It certainly feels real enough. She can feel the heat reflecting off of the sand causing her to sweat in her long sleeves.

The first Prime who spoke nods. “Yes, we have come to you in your dreams. The reason is because of the AllSpark. It allows us to do so.”

“But I thought I destroyed the AllSpark?”

“A power as great as the AllSpark’s can never be destroyed, only transformed.” The words send a jolt through Ari. She’s heard them before. “What you destroyed was the AllSpark’s vessel. Its power is still very much in existence.”

“Where is it?”

“It now resides in you, Ari,” the femme Prime says.

Ari stares at them blankly, waiting for the punchline but they’re looking at her in all seriousness. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No, we are not,” the first Prime says. “See for yourself. The AllSpark has left its mark on your arm.”

Quickly shoving up her sleeves she examines both arms. Sure enough, there on the inside of her left arm, just below her elbow, is a black Cybertronian symbol about the size of a fifty cent piece with a cube-like shape, appearing to have been tattooed onto her skin but she knows she never did such a thing. She’s seen it before, on the AllSpark. It’s the largest of all the symbols that glowed when the AllSpark healed Sideswipe and Jazz. She touches it with a fingertip and it glows the same soft blue. “H-how is this even possible?”

“When the Cube was destroyed the AllSpark needed a new vessel. You were the closest thing capable of containing it because of your human brain. Humans only use a small percentage of their brains, the rest lying dormant, unused. The AllSpark’s energy was able to merge with your brain and fill up all of the unused space.”

Ari gulps. “Am I…Am I going to change because of this? Am I even still human?”

“You will remain mostly human and your outward appearance will remain mostly unchanged aside from the marks you will gain on your skin.”

“Gain? You mean there will be more?”

“Yes. For now, most of the AllSpark’s power will lie dormant inside of you, only to be unlocked when you have earned the right to use it. When that will be, only Primus knows, but for each new ability you will gain a new mark.”

“Will it hurt? Like before?”

The femme looks at her sadly. “Yes. But with these powers you will be able to help our race. And your own.”

Ari’s gut clenches. “But we defeated the Decepticons. Megatron is dead. I thought the war was over now.”

“The Decepticons are not through with your planet,” the largest Prime says. Ari’s heart drops. “They will return sometime in the near future and in greater numbers. To defeat them you will need the power the AllSpark grants you.”

So much weight is being shoved on her shoulders all at once. She is now no longer 100% human. She is the AllSpark, a sacred relic to the Cybertronians, the key to their race’s survival. And now apparently her own.

Everything around her suddenly begins to fade away. “We are out of time,” the first Prime says.

She begins to panic. “Wait! Don’t go! What if I can’t do it? What if I can’t figure it all out in time? What if…What if I fail?”

He smiles. “I have faith in you, Ari. Primus chose you for a reason. If you were not capable of succeeding you would not have been the one to receive the AllSpark’s power.” The Primes are almost completely gone now, their faces and voices beginning to appear far-off. “Good luck, Ari! We shall meet again.”

And then everything becomes black again.

* * *

 

Ari awakens with a gasp, her eyes flying open, and she swiftly sits up. Her eyes dart back and forth, not recognizing her surroundings, the white room or the white bed she lays in. Looking down at herself she sees that she’s wearing a hospital gown that leaves her arms uncovered.

There, on her left arm, is the mark from her dream. The mark of the AllSpark.

Ari’s heart quickens and she hears the heart monitor she is connected to quicken with it. It wasn’t just a dream. It was real. All of it was real.

“Hey, hey, take it easy,” someone says, a familiar someone. Sitting to her left is Sideswipe’s holoform, his gray shirt and messy black hair looking rumpled, a sign he’s been there for a while. He gets up and approaches her, reaching out a hand as if to touch her arm, but when she inches her arm away from him he remembers and lets it drop. He gives her an apologetic half-smile. “You scared the slag out of me, you know that?”

She chuckles softly. “It wasn’t on purpose. Trust me.” She adjusts her pillow so she can sit up more comfortably. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours. Everyone’s gone home now. Though those two stayed behind for you.” He nods towards the other side of her bed where Lennox and Epps sit in two plastic chairs with slumped heads, passed out. “They were really worried about you. We all were.”

Ari smiles softly. They had been so tired before. How long did they hold off exhaustion just because of her before succumbing to it? And what about Sideswipe and the others? How long has it been since they last recharged?

“Well, now that you’re up I’m going to go get Ratchet,” Sideswipe says. “He’ll want to check on you, make sure you’re okay.”

Ari shakes her head. “It’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

Sideswipe’s holoform raises an eyebrow. “Ari, you were writhing in pain, that thing,” he points to her mark, “was burned onto your skin or whatever, and then you passed out. That’s practically the definition of not fine.”

“It’s okay, Sideswipe, I really am fine. I know what happened to me and it was…well…I was going to say normal but that’s not the right word for it. I guess you could say, it was supposed to happen?”

“Supposed to happen?”

“Yep. Now where are my clothes?” She spots them on the nightstand next to her and picks them up. “Never mind. Next question, where are the others? I need to talk to all of you about what happened.”

“So you know what happened.” He doesn’t sound convinced.

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, I know what happened.” She gets up and moves past him to the bathroom so she can change before Sideswipe has a chance to stop her. Before closing the door she looks back at him. “Oh, and can you wake up Lennox and Epps? They’re probably going to want to hear this, too.”

Once she is safely locked in the bathroom she allows her fear to wash over her.

She’s the AllSpark. That one thought keeps going through her head over and over again. Ari bites her lip. She’s really unsure how she feels about all of this. If she thought her life was starting to drastically change before, this is beyond change. This is life-altering. She literally will never be the same again. She takes comfort in the fact that her appearance won’t change in any way, but what other consequences will there be? What powers will she gain and how is that going to affect her life? What if the Decepticons find out? Will they try to get a hold of her? What if they succeed? Although, surely the Autobots won’t let that happen.

Her eyes light up in realization. Her life is now inexplicably linked to Sideswipe’s and the other Autobots’ in a way that cannot be broken. Whatever happens now, they will always be a part of her life and she a part of theirs. That thought makes her smile.

Ari looks down at her hands. They look the same and yet are now so different. She’s the AllSpark. Power courses through her veins.

Will she be able to live up to Primus’s expectations? Can she fulfill whatever plans he has for her? She closes her fingers into fists. She’s certainly willing to try. For the Autobots. For the human race.

And also for herself.

After Ari is back in her ripped, sweaty, dirty clothes, unfortunately she has nothing else to wear, she exits the bathroom and Sideswipe, Lennox, and Epps are standing near the doorway waiting for her.

Lennox smiles in relief. “Hey, kid, you feeling okay?”

“Never better,” she says.

“Never better?” Epps asks. “Man, after what you just went through I thought it’d be at least a week before you woke up.”

Lennox laughs and then places his hand on Epps’s shoulder. “Rob, no one sleeps that much except you.”

Epps holds up his index finger. “One time. One time I don’t wake up when our camp gets ambushed at night and still the jokes continue. When are you going to let up on a brother?”

“Not until I find someone else who can sleep through a fire fight.”

Everyone laughs while Epps looks at Lennox indigently. When they die down Sideswipe says, “Well, we better get going. The others are waiting for us.” They all file out into the hallway with Lennox and Epps in the lead.

“So where are the others?” Ari asks.

“In the hanger,” Sides answers. “Since you’re apparently well enough to be up and about Ratchet wants to do a full systems scan.” He shudders. “I don’t envy you.”

Ari grins. “What, you don’t like doctors?”

“Pit no. I avoid the Hatchet’s mandatory medical exams whenever possible.” He smiles mischievously. “Including the one I still haven’t had to endure yet after the Mission City battle.”

“Oh, you know it’s coming eventually.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s fun to avoid it. It bugs the slag out of ol’ Hatchet. Although it can get a little messy once he starts throwing wrenches.”

“He starts throwing wrenches?”

He nods. “Oh, yeah. Word to the wise, when the wrenches start flying run for your life.”

When they enter the hanger Sideswipe’s holoform disappears and he gets up to stand with the other Autobots in their bipedal forms. Right away Ratchet leans down to grab Ari around the middle to bring her closer. He sets her in his hand so he can start running his scans, a red light shining over her body and making her tingle uncomfortably all over.

“Ratchet, seriously,” Ari says, “I’m fine.”

“Are you Chief Medical Officer?” he asks, still focused on scanning her.

“Uh, no.”

“Then hush, youngling, and let me work. It will only take a few more kliks.”

Ari huffs, crossing her arms, but says nothing else.

Just as he says, in a few minutes he nods to himself in approval. “Everything does seem to be alright. However,” his optics ridges furrow in confusion, “you do appear to be exhibiting levels of AllSpark energy which…shouldn’t be possible.”

“Is it dangerous?” Sideswipes asks worriedly.

“According to my scanners nothing damaging has occurred to her systems but I should probably take a follow-up exam in a few Earth days just to be sure.”

“But Ratchet, it really isn’t necessary,” Ari begs.

“I don’t care. You _will_ undergo another exam in a few days even if I have to chase you down.”

She sighs. “Fine, if it will make you feel better. But there really isn’t anything wrong with me and nothing else is going to happen for a while, at least, that’s what the Primes told me.”

All of the Autobots stare at her in shock.

“Did you just say…the Primes?” Optimus asks.

“Yep. The six Primes. They told me what happened. Although, I’m still working on believing it myself. Maybe once I start getting those powers they told me about it’ll all seem more real.” She looks down at her hands. “I mean, I don’t feel any different but I am.”

Optimus reaches out and takes Ari from Ratchet, lifting her until she is very high off the ground in front of his face. “Ari, please explain. How is it you were able to meet the Primes?”

“Who _are_ the Primes?” Lennox calls up.

Optimus looks at the others and then they all kneel down on the ground in front of the humans so that it is easier to talk to one another.

 _There’s going to have to be something we can build to make talking between humans and Autobots easier,_ Ari thinks as Optimus sets her back on the ground to stand with Lennox and Epps. _This height difference is going to get annoying real fast for everyone, I can already tell._

“The Primes are a part of our history,” Optimus explains. “Before time began, there was the AllSpark. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. It started with the creation of two beings, brothers, twins, known as Primus and Unicron. Together, they used the Cube to build the universe. But Unicron became tired of creation, instead seeking to destroy it. He would not be sated until his ultimate goal was attained: to bring an end to the annoying creation boasting independence around him, and find peace by becoming the living center of a swirling, infinite torrent of nothingness at the end of all things. Primus did not see things as his brother did. He cared for creation, not loathed it. And so, the two brothers fought, both equally matched in strength. Seeing no end to the fight, Primus created the first seven Cybertronians to aid him in the battle, the seven original Primes. With their help, Primus was able to defeat Unicron. Primus then gave the duty of creation to the Primes, entrusting them with the AllSpark. What happened to Primus after that, we do not know.”

“And these dudes talked to Ari?” Epps asks. “How?”

Everyone looks at Ari, the same question in their eyes or optics.

“Well,” she begins uncertainly. How does she explain this to where they’ll believe her? “They came to me in a dream.” That doesn’t sound convincing, but oh well. It’s the truth. “They said they were able to because of the AllSpark.”

“But I thought yah destroyed the AllSpark when yah shoved it into ol’ Megatron’s chest,” Jazz says, “right?”

“Yes and no. Yes, I destroyed the Cube but they said that the AllSpark is so powerful that it cannot be destroyed completely, only become something else. The power transferred from the Cube into me.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re the AllSpark now?” Sunstreaker asks, unconvinced.

Ari scratches the back of her head. “Yeah. Pretty much. I can’t do everything the Cube could do yet. They said that I have to prove myself before the powers will unlock inside of me, and for each power I get, a new mark will form.” She looks down at the mark on her arm and touches a fingertip to the black skin. As soon as she touches it the mark glows.

“Holy Primus,” Ironhide whispers in awe.

“I think you got that dead on, ‘Hide,” Sideswipe says.

All of the Cybertronians are looking at her in such reverence that it makes Ari uncomfortable. Who do they see right now, Ari or the AllSpark? She wraps her arms around herself and looks away, not really sure what to do now. She didn’t want them to start thinking differently of her.

“Ari,” Optimus says and she looks up from beneath her lashes. He’s smiling at her. A warm smile. A comforting smile. “I am sorry.”

She looks up at him in confusion. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because we have uprooted your life in more ways than we ever intended. We never meant for you to become this. But I believe it is Primus’s will and he could not have chosen a better person to bestow the AllSpark’s power on.”

“Do you…Do you really think so?” She looks down at her feet. “The Primes said that things are going to get bad again, that the Decepticons are going to come back sometime soon, and that we’ll need the AllSpark’s power to stop them. Do you really think I can do it?”

Ari is suddenly hoisted into the air and she lets out a surprised squeak. Sideswipe places her on his shoulder and gives her a confident smirk. “Of course you can,” he says. “You’re the most awesome human I know. Right, Sunny?”

Sunstreaker huffs. “You’re okay for a human, I’ll give you that.”

Ari laughs. “That’s a compliment, coming from you.”

He rolls his optics.

“You can do it, Ari,” Jazz says. “We all know yah can. Jus’ look at what yah’ve already accomplished. And if things go wrong, not only will these two bigheads be there to back yah up, but the rest o’ us will, too.”

“Thanks, guys,” she says with a smile. Then she looks down at Lennox and Epps who are talking between themselves. “How do you two think about all of this? You’re not…weirded out, are you?”

“No,” Lennox says quickly. “Of course not. It’s definitely…unexpected, but considering everything else that’s happened over the past few days, it’s not the craziest thing ever.”

“We were just wondering though,” Epps says. “What should we tell the other humans about all this? I mean, they were ready to start experimenting on Sideswipe here. What would they do to Ari if they found out?”

Ari bites her lip. She hadn’t thought about that yet. Would the government still treat her as human if they found out? Or would they want to dissect her?

“Keeping secrets is not something I wished to do with your leaders,” Optimus says, “but I believe the decision should be Ari’s. If you think you would be in danger and do not wish to let others know, then we will support your decision.”

So it’s up to her. But she really has no idea what she should do. She looks at Lennox. “What do you think?”

He sighs tiredly. “Well, there’s really no good answer. We’ve all seen the movies and humans already have a history of not liking the unusual and different. The worst-case scenario is definitely a possibility.”

It really all comes down to one question: How will they react? With acceptance or disgust or even just plain curiosity? She doesn’t want to become a science experiment, but she doesn’t want to force the Autobots to lie for her either. All lasting relationships are built upon trust, not a foundation of lies. And lies always come out in the end. She’s proof of that. Ari thought she would always have to live through her father’s abuse, but the truth came out. Sure, she helped it along, but not at first. She never meant for Sideswipe to find out. It’s very likely that the secret that she’s the AllSpark will come out eventually. Actually, it’s practically guaranteed. The Primes said that she’ll need to use the AllSpark’s power in order to help stop the Decepticons. There’s probably no subtle way she can do that. She won’t be able to keep this secret forever, especially once she starts getting her powers. They’ll find out. And when they do things will get ugly.

She takes a deep breath, hoping she’s making the right decision. “We’ll tell them.”

Lennox and Epps look at her in surprise. “You sure?” Lennox asks.

“Yes, I’m sure. But just the world’s leaders. I don’t want anyone else finding out, especially the public once they find out you guys exist, whenever that’ll be. I want to be truthful but it should be kept quiet as much as possible. I still want to be able to go to school and stuff without people looking at me like I’ve got two heads.”

Optimus nods. “Very well. I’m sure we can come to an agreement with your leaders. We shall notify them tomorrow when we speak again for continued talks of the treaty. I will make sure it is written out that no one is allowed to touch you and no one else is to know unless you yourself give permission.”

“And if they don’t listen, we will protect you, Ari,” Sideswipe says. “Promise.”

Ari leans her head against his, closing her eyes. “I know you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Ari is the AllSpark. I know this sort of thing has been done before but I promise I'm not just repeating what others have done. Further explanations of what happened to Ari and how it's going to affect her and the story will be discussed in later chapters.
> 
> And yes, I know that humans only using ten percent of our brains is just a myth, we actually use all of it, but I don't care. It fits with the story and I didn't look it up until after I wrote this chapter anyway, so whatever. Fanfiction. That is my excuse.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	12. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep telling myself that I'm going to slow down with the updates because I don't want to catch up with myself too soon but then I get more kudos or comments and then I can't help but update again. Thank you all for your lovely support. It means a lot to me and I'm glad you all like my story, and Ari.
> 
> This chapter I took some liberties with sparkmates and how all that works. I couldn't really find a whole lot on it when I went looking so I just kind of mixed what I've read from other fics with my own ideas. I also took some liberties with Sarah's character since we don't see much of her from the movie.

Ari fidgets nervously sitting behind Sideswipe’s wheel. She had been able to get a shower back at the dam and had a chance to change into a fresh pair of clothes from her duffel that Sideswipe, thankfully, managed to keep a hold of in his trunk, but finally being clean still does not help her relax. Her eyes shift to the grasslands passing on either side with the occasional cluster of cows or horses. Farmlands and pastures make up the majority of this part of Nevada making it feel like the middle of nowhere. It took them an hour after leaving the Hoover Dam to get all the way out here, although that was with Sideswipe not exactly obeying speed limits, and the closest city, which happens to be Tranquility, is about thirty minutes west. Yes, definitely the middle of nowhere. Lennox and his wife own a large piece of land out here where they take care of a herd of cattle, which is where they are headed now.

And Ari is completely nervous about what’s going to happen when she gets there. She looks over at Lennox, who sits beside her in his formal military attire, and asks, “Are you sure it’s okay I stay with you guys?”

Lennox sighs. “For the thousandth time, yes, it’s fine.”

“But your wife doesn’t even know you asked me to stay with you yet. She doesn’t even know we’re both coming. What if she doesn’t like the idea of me staying with you? What if she doesn’t like me?”

“Ari, she’s going to be happy to have you. And she’s going to like you. Don’t worry about it, kid.”

“But-”

“No buts, Ari,” Sideswipe interjects. “Lennox probably knows his sparkmate better than anyone. If he says everything is going to be okay, then it is.”

Lennox gives the radio a strange look. “What’s a sparkmate?”

“It would be what you humans refer to as a spouse,” Sideswipe answers.

“I didn’t know you guys had marriage.”

“Why not?” Ari says. “It’s not like they’re that different from us, just made out of metal. Although, sparkmates still isn’t exactly the same as marriage.”

“How’s it different?”

“Well, when two Cybertronians decide to become sparkmates they merge their sparks together, creating a lasting bond. They’re literally connected to each other. They can feel and can even talk to one another. It can never be broken.”

“So no chance for divorce, huh?”

“No, although they would never want to. Cybertronians can only bond with one other, specific spark. It’s like soul mates.”

“Wow. It sounds beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Ari says as she stares out the window again. “It really does.”

“So, do you have a sparkmate, Sideswipe?” Lennox asks with a sly grin.

Warmth filters through the seats and Ari knows he’s blushing. “N-no,” Sideswipe stutters, “I haven’t found the right femme yet.”

Ari releases the breath she had been holding, though she didn’t even know she had been holding it. Was she worried what Sideswipe’s answer would be? Why would it matter to her?

She’s pulled out of her thoughts by Lennox’s next question. “Do any of the other Autobots have sparkmates?”

“The only Autobots that I know of who have sparkmates are Optimus with Elita-One and Ironhide with Chromia.” Sideswipe sighs sadly, blowing a puff of cool air out of the vents. “It isn’t a very common occurrence for bots to bondmate. Hasn’t been for a long time.”

Ari’s brow furrows in confusion. “Why?”

“Because of the war. You’re right, Ari, when two bots become sparkmates they’re connected by an unbreakable bond. It’s so powerful that, if one of them died, the other would not be able to survive the loss. They’d die, too. The only reason Optimus and Ironhide bondmated is because it happened before the war broke out. Cybertronians haven’t sparkmated since, since the risk of losing two with the death of one is too great.”

Ari and Lennox are silent, neither knowing how to respond. Two bots could be right next to each other, destined to be sparkmates, but can’t do anything about it because of the risk of one of them dying. Sure, they’re still together, but it still must be lonely. A different kind of loneliness. An emptiness in their sparks that can never be filled until the war is over. And there’s no guarantee they’ll both still be alive by then.

“We’re almost there,” Sideswipe says after a few moments. “So, how do you want to do this?”

Lennox had been given permission to tell his wife about the Autobots since he’ll be the head of the new task force and because Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are coming home with him. Really, the twins are there for Ari, but everything will be a lot easier if they didn’t have to hide and Sarah just knows everything. Especially if something were to happen.

::I say we surprise her,:: Sunstreaker’s voice says through the radio with an obvious tint of amusement. ::I can just imagine how she’s going to freak out to a bunch of alien robots.::

Ari looks in the rearview mirror at Sunstreaker’s alt mode driving behind them. “Sunstreaker, we don’t want to give her a heart attack.”

Lennox smirks. “Yeah, but she does love a good surprise. That’s why I didn’t call her from the dam to let her know I’m coming home. And it’s not like telling her about the Autobots is gonna be easy anyway.”

She rolls her eyes. “Alright, but if she passes out, it’s your fault.”

“There it is.” Lennox points to a white farmhouse surrounded by a couple of huge oaks to provide some shade with cows grazing in the pasture some distance behind it. The two story house with the wraparound porch looks old, as if it’s stood in this field for generations. But the painted wood looks fresh and well-kept to where it glistens in the sun as if it’s brand new. Next to the house is a barn that looks like it can hold several animals and a chicken coop stands next to it as well.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker come to a stop in front of the house. Ari waits for Lennox to do something but he just sits there, staring at the house in longing.

“My family is inside that house,” he says quietly. “I haven’t seen Sarah in…so long. And I’ll be seeing my baby girl for the first time.”

“Then what are you waiting for,” Ari says. “Go in there and sweep your wife off her feet. I’m sure she’s missed you just as much as you’ve missed her.”

Just then the front door of the house opens and a woman fills the doorway. Lennox’s breath hitches and his eyes widen. The woman is tall, taller than Ari, with a strong, tan face that comes from hard labor framed by a cascade of blonde hair. The woman can’t see Ari and Lennox because of Sideswipe’s tinted windows but that doesn’t stop her from squinting her eyes in curiosity to try and get a glimpse at them anyway.

Still Lennox hasn’t moved a muscle so Air decides to prod him, “Is that your wife?”

He blinks and takes in a shuddered breath before speaking, “Yeah. That’s my Sarah. I keep thinking that I’m gonna wake up any minute now and be back in Mission City or Qatar.”

“This isn’t a dream, Lennox. It’s very real. Now stop making her wait.” She nudges him in the shoulder towards the door. “Go. Before I tell Sideswipe to transform and dump you on your aft.”

Lennox narrows his eyes at her with a smile on his face, and then he puts on his uniform hat, opens the passenger door, and steps out. Ari stays where she is and watches as Sarah Lennox looks at her husband in, at first confusion, and then utter disbelief. Her eyes are wide and she gasps, covering her mouth with her hand.

Lennox closes the door and takes a few tentative steps towards his wife. “Hey, Sarah,” he says with a half-smile. “I’m home.”

Tears brim his wife’s eyes as her hand slowly lowers. She tries to say something, her mouth opening and closing a few times, but nothing comes out.

At the base of the porch stairs now, Lennox holds out a hand to her. “It’s okay, Sarah. It’s really me. I’m really home.”

“W-Will?” Sarah finally says, her hand slowly outstretching to his until their fingertips touch. Lennox lifts one foot onto the first step, shortening the distance between them further, so that he can fully take her hand in his. His fingers wrap around her hand, his thumb gently caressing her skin back and forth. She smiles, starting to actually believe that this is actually happening. “Will.”

Lennox gives her hand a swift tug and she falls forward off of the porch and into his arms. Sarah’s arms instantly go around his neck as their bodies collide. They cling to each other, both of their heads buried in the other’s neck.

After several minutes of desperate silence Sarah says, “I-I thought you were dead. I saw the news. They said your base was attacked and there were no survivors.”

“I know,” Lennox pulls back slightly so he can look at her in the face. “Me and my team managed to get out though.” He gives her a half-smile. “You should know I’m too stubborn to die. I had to get back to my ladies.”

Sarah smiles back. “You want to see her?”

“Yeah, I do. I really, really do. But,” he looks over in Ari’s and Sideswipe’s direction, “I didn’t come alone.”

“Oh,” Sarah backs away from Lennox, though he still has a firm hold of her hand, and wipes at the tears that have fallen down her face. “I didn’t even realize. Who all did you bring with you? Are they men from your unit? And where did you get the fancy cars?”

“It’s…complicated.” He looks over towards them again and shouts, “Ari, come on out!”

Ari takes a deep breath. “Alright. Moment of truth.”

“You’ll be fine,” Sideswipe says as he opens his door for her.

Ari steps out, keeping her hand on Sideswipe’s door for support. She stares at Sarah worriedly, biting her lip, wondering what the woman is thinking of this random teenage girl Lennox brought home.

“Go on, Ari,” Sideswipe says quietly so that Sarah won’t hear. “Go.”

“But-”

Before she can say another word Sideswipe closes his door himself. Ari yanks her hand away in surprise and gives Sideswipe a dirty look. Then she takes tentative steps towards the house, stopping a few feet away from the couple.

“Ari, this is my wife, Sarah,” Lennox introduces. “Sarah, this is Ari. She needs a place to stay. She…can’t be at home right now.”

“H-hello,” Ari says quietly.

Sarah still doesn’t say anything, just looks at Lennox, asking a question with only her eyes and he answers just the same. Ari knows Sarah can’t possibly understand everything with only a look, but apparently it’s enough for her. She gives Ari a warm smile and says, “Hello, Ari. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I hope I’m not intruding or anything.”

Sarah scoffs. “Nonsense. You’re more than welcome to stay with us as long as you need to. Any friend of Will’s is a friend of mine. Besides, I’m sure my husband didn’t give you any other choice but to come home with him, right?”

Lennox smirks. “Of course not. Would you expect anything else?”

Sarah rolls her eyes but they hold a glint of laughter. Ari asks one more time just to be sure, “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course I don’t mind.” Sarah takes Ari’s hand and gives it a squeeze. Ari can’t stop the flinch that goes through her body and she instinctively pulls away from the touch as if she expects the squeeze to turn painful. She gives Sarah a worried look, afraid to have offended, but Sarah just gives her a kind smile. She continues as if nothing out of the ordinary happened, “I’ll be more than happy to have you.”

Ari smiles back. A small smile. A hopeful smile. “Thank you.”

“Now, what about your other friend? The one in the yellow car?” Sarah looks at Sunstreaker’s alt mode expectantly while Ari and Lennox look at each other.

Well…how do they explain this?

“Uh, Sarah?” Lennox says. “There’s, um, something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“There, uh, isn’t actually anyone in that car.”

Sarah gives him an incredulous look. “What?”

Lennox sighs. “Maybe you better sit down for this.”

Once they’re all sitting on the porch chairs Lennox tells her what he knows, starting with the attack on his base in Qatar. Ari explains her part when they get to it, filling in the blanks, though leaving out the parts about her and Ron for now. They also leave out Ari being the AllSpark. They don’t want to overwhelm her with the craziness. All during the conversation Sarah is quiet, listening carefully, but Ari can’t tell if she’s actually believing any of it.

Sarah is quiet for several moments when their done, but then she says slowly, “I know you wouldn’t lie to me, Will. You know better than that. But I…I’m having a hard time believing all this. I mean, alien robots? It’s a little hard to swallow.”

The three of them look out on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. “Yeah,” Ari agrees, “It is hard to swallow. I know it was for me. But,” she gets up from her seat and goes over to Sideswipe, “once you see them, it’s hard to believe anything else but the truth.” She nods to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. “Alright, you two. Introduce yourselves. But take it slow. Like I said, we don’t need Mrs. Lennox having a heart attack.”

With that, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker begin to transform right at Ari’s feet. She stays still despite the close proximity to the two transforming Cybertronians. She knows they’re careful enough to never accidentally hurt her and she wants to show Sarah that, too, to help soften the blow. To show her that there is nothing to fear.

When they finally stand at their full height Ari looks back at Sarah who is now standing on the porch with wide eyes and gaping mouth. How will she react? Will she faint? Will she scream in terror? Will she accept them? Will she want nothing to do with them? Ari is suddenly afraid that she will reject them entirely. What will happen to her and Lennox then? Lennox is supposed to be the head of some new task force. He’ll be directly working with the Autobots on a daily basis. What if his wife can’t accept that? Will Lennox then give up the job offer or will he take it anyway?

Sarah cautiously approaches the two aliens, her hands slightly shaking. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker kneel down on the ground to be more on her level.

“Mrs. Lennox, this is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker,” Ari gestures to the two bots. “They’re brothers, twins. They’ve saved my life many times in the past few days. Your husband’s, too.”

“Hello, Mrs. Lennox,” Sideswipe says with a kind smile.

“H-hi,” Sarah says breathlessly.

Lennox comes up to stand besides his wife, placing an arm around her waist for support. “You okay, hon?”

“Yeah…yeah…Just…trying to process.” Sarah reaches out a hand towards Sideswipe and he reaches back, placing his index finger into the palm of her hand. A smile pulls at her lips as she stares up at Sideswipe in amazement. “Wow….”

The moment is interrupted when a baby’s cry filters out to them from the house. Sarah blinks a few times and then looks back at the house. “Oh. Annie must have woken up from her nap.”

Lennox’s eyes sparkle at the mention of his daughter’s name. “May I have the honors?”

“Of course. It’s about time she met her daddy.” Sarah looks back at Ari, Sides, and Sunny. “We should probably head inside anyway. Although you two can’t really fit, can you?”

“Sure we can,” Sunny says. “Just give us a nanoklik.”

Sunny and Sides revert back to their alt modes and then their holoforms step out from the cars. Sarah stares in total confusion at the two human-looking boys with black hair and both wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

“These are their holoforms,” Ari explains. “They’re like holograms but solid.”

Sarah nods slowly. “Right. Holoforms. I get the feeling there’s a lot I’m going to have to learn.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Lennox, it’s not as hard as it seems.”

She gives Ari a warm smile. “Please, call me Sarah.”

* * *

 

Gathered in the comfort of the farmhouse’s living room, for the next several hours Ari fills Sarah’s curious mind with the details she’s learned about the Cybertronians, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker only stepping in if she doesn’t know the answer herself. Sarah still isn’t quite comfortable around the two aliens but the more they talk the more relaxed she becomes. Lennox just listens in on the conversation only occasionally asking something himself. He’s more enamored with his little girl in his arms and making up for lost time.

Ari’s quite proud of the amount of knowledge she’s gained on Cybertronian life, though whether it’s from her own capacity to remember her conversations with the Autobots or something having to do with the AllSpark she does not know. Either way, by the time they’ve satiated Sarah’s curiosity, and Lennox’s, too, the sun had long since set.

“Wow, it’s late,” Sarah says with a laugh. “Perhaps I should get some dinner started. Though you two don’t eat human food, right?”

“Nope,” Sides says and he and his brother stand from the couch. “I think my brother and I will just go outside while you guys eat. I’m sure you and your husband have a lot of catching up to do anyway.”

Ari stands to leave as well as the two holoforms blink out but Lennox stops her. “And where do you think you’re going?”

She glances between Lennox and his wife. “It’s like Sides said. You and Sarah have a lot of catching up to do so I figured I’d go outside with them. I don’t want to be a third wheel or anything.”

“I don’t think so. You’re our guest. You’re eating with us.”

“But-”

“No buts, Ari. You’re not gonna be a bother. Promise.”

She gives in with a sigh but a small smile tugs at her lips. This will be the first time she’s actually sat down at a table to eat a meal with other people since her mom left. Usually she would have fixed a quick something in the microwave and ate in her room so as to avoid Ron.

It doesn’t take long for Sarah to finish cooking spaghetti, apparently Lennox’s favorite dish, and they all sit at the table to eat. The first bite is absolutely divine. Definitely better then something out of a cardboard box. Lennox and Sarah talk all throughout the meal, Sarah filling in Lennox on events she didn’t have the time to tell him about during their video chats while he was away and Lennox telling Sarah what it was like in Qatar. Ari eats in comfortable silence and lets the two get reacquainted, happy to just sit and enjoy a good meal listening to the two talk. It’s nice, she decides. Eating with other people even though she’s not actively part of the conversation. She’s never minded not talking, preferring it actually, but it’s nice to not be alone. Though three-quarters through the meal Sarah would have no more of that.

“So,” Sarah begins, “what led to my husband having to insist you come home with him?” Ari shifts uncomfortably in her seat, casting a nervous glance at Lennox. Sarah catches on and amends her question. “If you don’t mind that is. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Ari gives her a grateful smile but decides to tell her anyway. She wishes Sideswipe were at least with her during this, but Sarah accepted the Autobots and Ari into her home without batting an eyelash. The least Ari can give her is the full story. So she tells her. She’s not sure what she was expecting. A mother’s outrage? The pity she usually fears more than anything? Unconcern? What she gets is a kind, understanding smile. A smile that lets Ari know that everything is going to be okay. That this piece of her past won’t be around to haunt her forever.

No wonder Lennox fell for Sarah and told her of the abuse he dealt with as well.

After the meal and clean up Sarah and Lennox show Ari to her room on the second floor of the house. It’s really nice, twice as big as what she had back home, with hardwood floors and the desk, dresser, and frame for the queen-sized bed being made out of wood as well. There is a window seat in one wall with plush cushions that overlooks the front yard. Ari pulls the curtain back to look out on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sitting on the ground in their bipedal forms talking and relaxing. There aren’t any neighbors for miles so they don’t have to worry about hiding here. As soon as Lennox and Sarah bid her goodnight Ari opens her window and calls out to them, “Hey, guys.”

The two bots turn their heads, Sideswipe grinning when he sees her. “Hey, Ari. How’d everything go?”

She shrugs. “Alright I guess. I managed to tell Sarah about…you know…everything.”

Sunny raises an optic ridge. “You told her about your dad and being the AllSpark?”

“No,” Ari says with a chuckle. “No, I didn’t tell her about the AllSpark stuff. But my dad, yes.”

“Congrats,” Sides says with a wide grin. “Is talking about it getting any easier?”

“A little. I think it’s easier when it’s someone I trust. And I do trust Sarah. She’s an amazing lady.”

“Yeah, she is. Kind of reminds me of you actually.” Ari gives him an odd look but he ignores it. “So, you about ready for recharge? We have to head out early to get back to base. Optimus and the world’s leaders still have a lot to talk about and you’re on that list tomorrow.”

Ari gulps. “Don’t remind me. So not looking forward to that. But I am looking forward to bed. Just need my stuff.”

Sideswipe quickly hands Ari her duffel from inside the compartment space holding the stuff from his trunk. She tosses the bag onto the bed and then turns back to the window.

“Goodnight Sides. Goodnight Sunny.”

“Night,” Sunny replies and promptly lays on the ground ready for some recharge of his own.

Sideswipe chuckles, shaking his head at his brother. He then says to Ari, “Goodnight Ari. Sleep well. And if you need us, we’re here for you.”

She smiles at him softly. “I know.”

With that, Ari closes the window and drapes, changes into some pajamas, turns out the lights, and crawls into the wonderfully soft bed. Almost as soon as her head hits the pillow she’s out cold, unsure of her future but just too tired to care at the moment.

* * *

 

Just a few miles away from the still war-scarred Mission City a figure moves, his metal body riddled with holes, one wing slightly crooked. Starscream has seen better days and cannot believe it was only a handful of Autobots and pesky little insects who reduced him to this mess. Apparently these humans are more resourceful than they ever could have suspected. The Decepticons will need more mechs and time for a proper strategy before attempting to take the Earth again. In the meantime, the Autobots and their allies will have to be watched. Especially the Witwicky girl. Something strange happened between her and the AllSpark. Though the AllSpark is gone now, destroyed by that filth, it may still be worth looking into.

A car approaches, coming from the city, and Starscream transforms one of his arms into a cannon, ready to fire if it is a threat. But once the car is closer Starscream recognizes it and stands down. It seems fate is in his favor at the moment.

When the black and white police vehicle is close enough it transforms. Barricade has seen better days as well as he drags one leg along the ground and one arm hangs uselessly at his side. “Starscream-” he begins only to be cut off.

“Lord Starscream. Now that Megatron is dead it is I who will be taking over as leader of the Decepticons. And don’t you forget it,” he snarls. “Where were you during the battle? I did not see you in the city.”

Barricade growls. “Optimus took me out after dealing with Bonecrusher. I was incapacitated but left alive.”

Starscream snorts. “You’re one lucky mech. How long until you have fully recovered?”

“It will take some time for my internal systems to fix some of the more severe damage without a medic, but no more than a few Earth days.”

“Very well. Rest for now. I’m going to return to the _Nemesis_ in order to check on the sparklings and our master. He will want to hear of recent events. As soon as you have recovered track down the Witwicky girl. Watch her movements and let me know if anything of note happens.”

Barricade grins evilly. “I can’t wait to get my servos on that fleshling.”

“Not yet, Barricade,” Starscream snaps. “Just recon. No more. When more Decepticons arrive on Earth, then we will seek our revenge.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, things are far from over for Ari, especially now that she's the AllSpark. And the Decepticons won't be waiting until the second movie in order to make a move. We've got a long road ahead of us.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	13. Going out on a Limb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the chapter that started it, I guess. By this chapter I was thinking about doing a Transformers/Avengers crossover, probably for the sequel, but then I started thinking: If I do the crossover, then in order for it to be believable everything that exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs to already coexist with the Transformers Universe in my fic. I can't just pretend none of the MCU exists until I decide to do the crossover. Meaning SHIELD should already exist. And if SHIELD exists, then wouldn't they have their hands on what's going on with the Autobots and everything? So I was like, alright, I'll lay a bit of groundwork then but I won't have any of the Avengers yet. 
> 
> And things just progressively grew from there.
> 
> The World Security Council shows up this chapter. I changed things a bit with them. In the movies there are four members but here there are twelve. I want them to be a world organization and it makes more sense if there are twelve members instead of just four. And I read somewhere that in the comics there were twelve so there is that. But continue to expect little changes like that. They're necessary in order to get these two universes to mesh properly.

The Sector Seven base beneath Hoover Dam is a bustle of activity when Ari, Lennox, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker arrive the next day. Men are scrambling around everywhere packing up equipment, breaking down furniture, and carting the contents of the base away. They spot Agent Simmons off to the side overseeing the progression with a grim face, shoulders slumped and arms crossed in front of his chest. Ari and Lennox approach him, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker transforming and following behind. The man gives off the air of defeat.

“Hey, Simmons,” Lennox says carefully, afraid one wrong word will set the high-strung man off. “What’s going on?”

Simmons gives them all a nasty glare. “Sector Seven is being shut down, that’s what. Apparently, the higher ups didn’t like how we handled things so they told us to pack our bags.”

Ari looks at him incredulously. “They fired you and all the other agents?” It’s surprising news but she can’t say she isn’t happy about it. Especially after everything Sector Seven did and tried to do.

“Yep. Stripped us of our badges, our security clearance, and are kicking us to the curb. And it’s all thanks to you clowns.”

Before Ari gets a chance to respond Simmons stalks off, apparently fed up with the conversation already. She sighs and lets him go knowing nothing she says will mitigate his misplaced anger.

“Let me be the first to say that I’m not going to miss that guy,” Sunstreaker says.

Sideswipe snorts. “You got that right.”

“Come on, let’s go find the others,” Lennox says and they head off to the main hanger where Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Jazz are gathered around a group of TV screens set up on some scaffolding. On top of the scaffolding stands Defense Secretary Keller. He smiles at their approach. “Glad you could join us. We were just about to get started.”

Sideswipe lifts Ari and Lennox up onto the scaffold. “Thanks,” Ari says. “How are things looking so far?”

“All is going fairly well,” Keller replies. “As I’m sure you already know they have allowed the Autobots to remain on Earth. Though, as you can see, Sector Seven will no longer have anything to do with their operations.”

“Is that where this new task force will come in?” Lennox asks.

Keller nods. “Yes, you will be in charge of the Autobots with your orders coming from General Morshower. But even Morshower has his superiors.”

“Wouldn’t it just be the Pentagon?”

“No, since this is a world organization it will not just be the Pentagon calling the shots. A world council in already in existence that oversees the operations of an intelligence organization known as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. It is the members of this council who we will be speaking with today.”

 _Yippee, another secret government organization I’ve never heard of_ , Ari grumbles to herself. _Hopefully they’re better than the last one._

Jazz lets out a long whistle. “Man, that’s quite the name.”

Keller chuckles. “They say they’re working on it, but what they’ll do I’m not sure.”

“Will it be this…organization that will be in charge of us then?” Lennox asks.

“No, just the council. It was thought best to keep the two separate since they already have a lot on their plate and this will be a more militarized organization. But they will be in charge of making sure everything having to do with Cybertronians is kept a secret from the world.”

“I guess I’ll be added to that list then,” Ari says, drawing the attention of the Defense Secretary.

“What do you mean by that?” he asks.

“It’s why I’m here today. I need to talk to this council. Some…things have recently happened that you’re not aware of and I figured I better be open about it.”

Something starts to beep and the once-dark screens begin to light up one by one.

“Well, looks like you’re about to get the chance to explain yourself. They’re coming online now.”

Each of the twelve screens light up with a different person, men and women of varying ages, but none of their faces can be seen. They’re cast in shadow, leaving the identities of the members a mystery.

“Good morning,” an older gentleman says, his voice betraying him to be American. “We are the World Security Council and will be speaking to you as ambassadors for the planet Earth.”

Optimus steps forward. “My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. If you do not mind my asking, why are your faces hidden from us? Are you afraid?”

“Not at all,” a British woman says. “The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division has many enemies, many of whom would like to see us dead. It is for our protection that our identities are kept unknown to everyone.”

“Understood,” Optimus says with a nod. “Shall we continue with further discussions of the treaty then?”

“Yes,” the American man speaks up again, apparently the unofficial speaker for the group. No surprise there. “You agreed that you would share all of your knowledge with us.”

“So long as it is not weapons.”

Murmurs pass between the council members. Unhappy murmurs.

“You have no right to keep something like that from us,” another member says, his accent thick, European. German maybe? “How else are we supposed to defeat the Decepticons, hostile alien forces _you_ brought upon our planet, if we do not have the technology to defend ourselves?”

“We’ve researched Earth’s history,” Ironhide says. “There is hardly a moment when humans are not at war with one another. Giving you our advanced weaponry would only lead to catastrophic circumstances.”

“And with all due respect,” Lennox says, hands clasped behind his back and standing soldier straight, “we do have the weapons to take down the ‘Cons. We did it in Mission City and we will do it again if and when they decide to strike back.”

“And you will not be alone,” Optimus says. “We will fight alongside you to the end.”

“What if that is not enough?” the American man says.

The British woman sighs. “It will have to be.”

“I don’t think-”

“It doesn’t matter what you or I or any of us think. It is their decision. If they refuse to share their weapons technology with us, then there is nothing we can do.”

The American member steams silently, but the British woman is right. The Autobots can’t be forced to do anything they don’t want to do and pressing could cause the Autobots to retaliate. Of course, they would never do that. But the council appears too afraid to want to risk it.

“Will you not reconsider?” the German member asks one more time.

All of the Autobots shake their heads defiantly.

“Very well. What are you willing to share with us? Since the Cube is gone-”

“Actually,” Ari interrupts from where she sits on the railing of the scaffold. “The AllSpark isn’t exactly gone.” She moves into the line of sight of the camera, hands shaking at her sides. She knows she has to do this. It’s the right thing to do. Yet why can she not stop the butterflies eating away at her stomach? But she keeps her voice calm, years of practice at appearing calm on the outside while around other people finally coming in handy for more than just keeping her father’s abuse a secret.

“Why is there a child on a secret military base?” the American council member asks, anger streaking his voice.

Lennox’s jaw clenches slightly. “She’s not just a child, sir. Her name is Ari Witwicky and she’s the one who’s been helping the Autobots since the beginning.”

“Ah, Arianna Witwicky,” the American sneers. “The one who destroyed the Cube and NBE-1.”

“You’re only half right.” Ari rolls up her left sleeve to reveal the mark of the AllSpark. “The Cube was destroyed but not the AllSpark itself. Its power kind of transferred into me.”

Silence. Yeah, it’s never going to get easier to explain this, is it? At least, not to where anyone will believe it right away.

“You’re kidding, right?” the German asks.

“No, she’s not,” Ratchet says. “There are still some exams I would like to perform but my preliminary report shows that the AllSpark energy did indeed transfer into her body.”

“Plus,” Sideswipe adds, “watching that mark suddenly burn into her skin and then her having knowledge she couldn’t possibly know definitely helps.”

“Did you know about this, Secretary Keller?” the American asks.

“No,” Keller says looking quite baffled at the turn of events. “When did this happen?”

“Well,” Ari says as she rolls down her sleeves again, “technically it happened right as I shoved the AllSpark into Megatron’s chest, but I didn’t know I basically became the AllSpark until just yesterday.”

Despite the shadows it is still easy to see the smirk on the American member’s face. It sends shivers down Ari’s spine and the butterflies in her stomach become more frantic. “If this is true, then there is still so much we can learn from the Cube. There are experiments that we can-”

Sideswipe growls viscously, cutting him off, and plucks Ari off of the scaffold to place her protectively on his shoulder. She doesn’t let out a squeal of surprise this time, instead feeling relieved to be away from the monitors even though she knows the people aren’t really there.

 _Is the worst-case scenario going to come true?_ she wonders as she clings to the hand still curled around her protectively.

“You’re not going to do anything to Ari,” Sideswipe says, dark and menacing. “I won’t let you.”

“She is a citizen of the United States in possession of valuable information. By law she cannot withhold it. Also she is a minor and if I am not mistaken,” he leafs through a folder on his desk until he finds what he is looking for, “Child Protective Services just filed to have her father, Ronald Witwicky, tried for child abuse and will be moving to have Arianna removed from his care. Captain Lennox has temporary custody of her now, but once the trial is over she will need a permanent home. Since she has no other relatives she will be put into foster care, making her a ward of the state. The United States government will have custody of her.”

Fear spikes through Ari’s veins. This man knows how to do the political two-step. He wants to be able to study her, study the AllSpark, in the hopes of gaining the knowledge the Autobots wish to keep from them. And there’s nothing Ari can do. Except maybe run. If things get bad, she knows the Autobots will help her with that. Sides and Sunny will take her far away where none of these monsters, the _real_ monsters, will ever find her. But for now, she just waits and watches as they argue over her future.

“Ari Witwicky is not to be touched,” Optimus says, leaning in close to the camera, the look in his blue optics leaving no room for argument. “This will be a part of our treaty and is non-negotiable. You are not to harm her or conduct experiments on her in any way. Ari came to the decision herself to trust you and tell you what has happened to her. She trusts that, despite her unique circumstances, you will still treat her as a member of the human race, not some object to be studied. Are you not trustworthy?”

“Of course we are,” the British woman says quickly. Ari smirks. Looks like Optimus can play the political two-step as well. They won’t risk losing the Autobots’ trust. They don’t know what will happen if they do and they’re too afraid to find out. Sure, one day, probably sometime soon, they’ll figure out that the Autobots would never harm any human no matter the circumstances and then the council will start pushing harder for what they want. But they don’t know that now and by the time they do it will be too late to get to her.

“Then you will not touch Ari. She is also to be kept a secret from everyone who does not already know unless she decides to let her secret be known.”

“And she needs complete access to the base,” Jazz adds. “She’s gonna need to be able to come and go whenever she wants and know all the stuff we do.”

Optimus nods. “So, World Security Council, will you agree to our terms on this matter?”

The American slams his fist down on his desk. “This is outrageous!”

“We will agree,” the British woman says. The other ten council members nod in agreement while the American lets out an indignant huff, obviously outnumbered. After an uncomfortable silence he nods his head as well, having no choice but to comply.

Ari slowly lets out the breath she had been holding while they continue onto different topics. She’s safe, both from the government and from anyone else finding out. Thanks to the council’s misplaced fear they will never be able to hurt her.

“Want to get out of here?” Sideswipe asks quietly.

“More than anything,” Ari says and Sideswipe reverses his wheels and discreetly slips away from the group. When he’s far enough away he begins to transform, his parts gently moving around Ari so that when the transformation is complete she ends up in the driver’s seat. They tear out of the hanger and into the sunlight.

* * *

They figure they shouldn’t wonder too far away from the S7, well, ex-S7, base because they have no idea how long the meeting will go on for and they still have to wait for Lennox and Sunstreaker, who had stayed behind. So, deciding some fresh air would be nice, Sideswipe parks himself in the visitor parking lot and Ari and he, Sides being in holoform, get out to go check out the top of the dam. Ari only got to see it briefly when she first arrived at the base only a few days ago and Sideswipe didn’t get a look at it at all.

As they make their way to the edge of the dam Sideswipe keeps a close eye out and makes sure he stays close to Ari. The Autobots still don’t know what happened to the rest of the Decepticons who survived the Battle of Mission City. The bodies of Starscream and Barricade were unaccounted for. He would like to believe that, with Megatron now dead, things will finally calm down in this war. He even told Air as much when he said he wanted to be her Guardian. But, if he were to be honest with himself, he’d know that isn’t true. None of the Decepticons have been known to back down that easily and they all have hatred and revenge deeply ingrained in their sparks. No, it is most likely they will strike back. When? Sides isn’t sure. But they won’t be staying gone, that’s for sure. Someone will take Megatron’s place. He had just told Ari those things so she wouldn’t worry.

And maybe as part of his excuse so that he could be her Guardian. But he’ll never admit to that.

It’s busy at the top of the dam which isn’t all that surprising. From what Sideswipe has learned from human culture so far the weekends, especially Saturdays, tend to be when people go out together doing enjoyable things, including sightseeing at national monuments. People are all over the sides of the dam, leaning over the side, taking pictures, and just overall enjoying themselves. However, as Sides and Ari finally find a small space on the edge for themselves, Ari doesn’t seem to be having as much fun as everyone else. She’s twitchy, shying away from every accidental touch and close proximity the tourists give her.

Sideswipe sighs as they lean against the concrete ledge in comfortable silence and look down at the Colorado River over 700 feet below them. When Ari allowed him to inspect her hurt wrist from the last time her father attacked her he had hoped it was a sign that she is getting better, but it seems human contact is still hard for her. At the very least he hoped it meant she was getting more comfortable with _him_. Sure, this is just his holoform and she has no problem with his real form, but it’s still him. And since he’ll be staying with her he’ll probably have to be in this form a lot in order to more easily watch over her. He _wants_ Ari to be able to be comfortable with his holoform, but even now, as they lean on their elbows against the dam, she is keeping a careful distance between them, not out of shyness but out of unease rooted in fear.

A tour passes behind them, the tour guide spouting off facts about the dam neither of them pay attention to, but they do start to pay attention when the people crowd around right behind them, squeezing closer and closer in order to try and look out at the dam leaving barely any space for Sideswipe and Ari to stand. Ari looks back at the people with rounded eyes, her hands clutching the dam edge so hard her knuckles turn white. With people pressing against her back and on both sides she starts to breathe more quickly, the breaths coming out short and shallow. It won’t be long before panic swallows her completely but what can they do? They’re too packed in to fight their way out. So, Sideswipe does the only thing he can think of. He wedges himself behind her so that it is his chest pressed against her back, placing his hands on the wall on either side of her, acting as her shield. Being so close to her sets Sideswipe’s nerve endings tingling every place their bodies are touching, a strange sensation but certainly not uncomfortable. Just something he’s not used to. But he can tell by the way Ari is shaking that she is not feeling him behind her, but someone else. Someone who wishes her nothing but harm. He leans his head down so that his mouth is right next to her ear.

“Don’t look at them,” he whispers just loud enough so only she can hear. “Look right in front of you and just pay attention to my voice. None of these other people are here. It’s just you and me.” Sideswipe takes deep, even breaths, his chest moving against her, encouraging her to mimic him until her own breathing starts to calm. “You are not with your father. The piece of slag is far away in some jail cell. You’re with me, you’re with Sideswipe. Your Guardian. Your friend. The best mech you’ll ever meet.” Ari lets out the faintest laugh at that and Sides smiles to himself. “You’re completely safe here with me, Ari. I won’t ever let anything happen to you. I promise.”

As Sideswipe continues to talk he begins to feel Ari’s muscles unclench, the tension ebbing out of her. Her breathing relaxes back down to normal and her grip loosens from the ledge. Behind them the tour group moves on giving them room to breathe again. Sideswipe cautiously steps away from Ari and resumes his place at her side a careful distance away.

“You okay?” he asks as Ari continues to stare off into the dry Nevada landscape.

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and then releases it slowly. When she finally looks at Sideswipe it’s with a small apologetic smile. “Sorry I freaked out on you like that. I just…I don’t handle crowds very well.”

“It’s alright,” Sideswipe says softly. “I should have known this would be a bad idea. Nothing you need to apologize for.”

Ari’s pale blue eyes go distant and she turns away to look down at the palms of her hands as if expecting to find the meaning to the universe’s deepest secrets in between the creases. “I wish I wasn’t like this. I wish I could be around other people and touch other people and not break down. And not feel _he’s_ on me.” She scrunches her eyes closed tight as she curls her fingers into fists. “I wish I could be _normal_.”

Since he’s not human, Sideswipe doesn’t really understand the need for physical interaction. Cybertronians never really cared one way or another about being touched. Cybertronians can’t feel things like what’s he’s experiencing now, in the human body of his holoform. Humans have so many more nerve endings, it’s like they can feel everything, even the faintest breeze. Cybertronians never could. That’s what makes them such good soldiers. Can’t feel as much when they’re hurt so they can keep on fighting until they can’t help but fall. Sideswipe wonders if the Primes had that in mind when making the first Cybertronians.

But humans. Looking around at all the different people, Sideswipe can see that they thrive on their sense of touch. Just here, at the top of the dam, there are people holding hands, throwing their arms around each other’s shoulders as they pose for a picture, touching an arm or a shoulder simply absentmindedly in conversation. They rely on it _so much_. It can place smiles on people’s faces when words aren’t enough.

And right now Ari is deprived of that by her own subconscious.

How is Sideswipe supposed to help her?

* * *

Ari still has her eyes closed, fighting the tears that threaten to come, as she and Sideswipe stand on top of the dam. She can’t cry here. Not now. Not in front of Sideswipe and especially not in front of all of these strangers. But it’s hard to hold back after the stress of this morning and then her freak out with the tour group.

_Shut it down, Ari. You’ve gotten through freak outs like this before without crying. You can do it now._

It’s not quite that simple though. Because she’s not just upset about almost becoming a government science experiment or being touched by people she doesn’t know. It’s that she freaked out at Sideswipe being so close to her, too. That it took so much effort to calm herself down when all he was doing was protecting her from the crowd of people.

A part of her knows that if she were normal, then that moment, with Sideswipe pressed against her back and his mouth whispering in her ear, could have been enjoyable.

But she’s not going to think about that. She just…he’s not even…no, she can’t do that.

“Ari,” she hears Sideswipe say softly and she finally opens her eyes, now brought under control so they’re not threatening with tears, and looks up into his face. He’s closer than he was before, if only by a fraction, and his face is etched with worry. “You know, things don’t have to stay like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, there could be a way for you to get better.”

Hope flutters through her chest. “How? Is there some sort of Cybertronian technology that could help me?”

A corner of his mouth twitches upward in a sad smile. “No, nothing that simple. And fixing this isn’t going to be simple, it’ll be really hard on you and will take a lot of time, but it _is_ possible.”

“How, then?” she asks, frustration and helplessness flowing over her again threatening to bring the tears back. “Nothing I’ve ever tried has worked before. No matter how much I try to convince myself that being touched is no big deal, I still can’t stop it.”

“First off, getting you away from your father and keeping it that way,” he gives a devilish smile, “which has already been taken care of. Then it’s just practice. You start off slow, with someone you trust more than anyone, and start with the smallest of touches. After that you just keep doing the small stuff until you’re used to it and it feels normal to you and then you move on from there until you can even be hugged and be okay with it. After that, you try with other people, which will still take some effort, but by then it will hopefully be easier. The point is, _you_ will be in control of all of it. Nothing will be a surprise and no one will touch you any more than what you’re ready for.”

Ari bites her lip, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. “Sounds too easy. How do you know it will work? It can’t possibly be that easy, can it?”

Sideswipe gives a sheepish grin. “Well, I may have just looked it up on the internet a few minutes ago.” Ari laughs which causes his grin to widen. Then he becomes serious again, his eyes searching hers. “They call it desensitization. It may sound easy, but it’s not. It’ll be a long time until you get to where you want to be. And being in crowds like this,” he gestures with his hands to the people around them, “you may never feel comfortable with. But at least you’ll one day, eventually, be alright around those you care about most. So what do you say? Want to give it a shot?”

She nods, first slowly but then with more certainty. “Yeah. I’m willing to go out on a limb. It’s better than doing nothing, right?”

“Right. So,” he looks down at his feet for a second, almost nervously. “Who should we have you practice with? It has to be someone you really trust. Is there someone back in Tranquility?”

Ari’s brow raises in surprise. “Sideswipe, you should know who I trust most by now.” She steps closer to him. Just one step. She starts to feel a little twitchy but forces herself to stay put. She’s in control of this. “You’re the one I trust more than anyone, Sides. If I’m going to do this with anyone it’s going to be you.”

His mouth upturns into a half-smile. “Yeah?”

She takes another step. Only one more remains between them. “Yeah.” She takes that final step, though still leaves inches between them. This is the closest she’s ever been to anyone willingly. And her skin is crawling. She forces herself to breathe deeply, just like Sideswipe had her do earlier. And it works, at least a little bit. Keeping her eyes focused on Sideswipe’s face, on his black wavy hair that is ghosting around his face in the breeze, on the dimples in his cheeks as he smiles down at her, on the pure blueness of his eyes that she finds so captivating whether he be bot or holoform, she can more easily focus on the present moment and shove her fears into the back of her mind. She is not with her father. She is with Sideswipe. The one she trusts most and her closest friend. She feels safe with him when he’s a bot. Hopefully, with time, she’ll feel the same way when he’s in holoform mode. For now, all she can do is take it one step at a time and hope for the best.

And, since her muscles start to slowly relax, she has reason to hope.

“So,” she says, “think we’ll make any real progress by Monday?”

“Don’t know. All depends on you I guess.” His head tilts to the side in confusion. “Why do you ask? Why by Monday?”

Ari takes a deep breath. “Because last night that’s when Lennox said my trial with my father is going to be. And something tells me I’m going to need all the support I can get in order to get through this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, NO, there won't be any Avengers showing up...at least...not for a while anyway...check the tags.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	14. Ari Lennox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I've been trying to find time to post this chapter for the past, like, two days but life's been buys lately. Finally got it up though.
> 
> Just fair warning, this chapter is probably not factually accurate. I tried to understand the legal system and what exactly Ari would have to go through given her circumstances, but I came to the conclusion that my brain just refuses to comprehend it all. Good thing I'm not wanting to be a lawyer. Sorry if I got anything wrong, and I probably did. Please don't hate me for it, I really did try.

As soon as the talks with the World Security Council are over with for the day Ari is thrust into preparation for the upcoming trial. She talks with police officers, her representative from Child Protective Services, and her appointed attorney about the details of her abuse over the past ten years so that all of the evidence can be properly filed with the court. Ari never thought, and never wanted, to have to go over the story so many times. But she just sighs, looks over at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker in their holoforms who have never left her side even for a moment, and bears it. It’s necessary, after all, if her father is to be kept out of her life from now on. And her attorney assures her that that will be the case. The court usually prefers to not tear families apart and it is the duty of the CPS to at least attempt other options, but considering the circumstances they should be able to, with ease, terminate her father’s custody right over her and even put him in jail for a good solid chunk of time. He can’t go away for life, much to Ari’s disappointment, but he can go to jail for up to twenty years in the state of Nevada for child abuse. After that, when he is finally released, a restraining order will keep him from being able to come near her again.

And she knows a couple of bots who would be more than happy to enforce it.

Ari’s hand ghosts over the AllSpark mark hiding beneath her long sleeves at the thought of that and can’t help but be grateful. She’s assured now that she will actually be with the Autobots twenty years from now. There’s no ifs or maybes. Her life was totally turned upside-down by it, she’ll never be the same and they still aren’t sure exactly what changes she has or will undergo because of it, but right now Ari is glad she became the AllSpark. It’s worth it so that she’ll be able to be with Sideswipe, her best friend, for many years to come.

Before she knows it, it’s Sunday night, just hours before she’s supposed to show up in court and face her father for the first time since he was dragged away. And she can’t sleep. She’s tried, but she just keeps tossing and turning without ever being able to get comfortable enough to drift off. Her mind is abuzz with nervousness. And fear. Yeah, she knows there’s no possible way her father will be able to get to her while in a courtroom, but she still can’t stop her skin from breaking out in gooseflesh at the mere thought of being in the same room with him.

After glancing at the digital clock on her nightstand for the umpteenth time and seeing that it’s already past one in the morning she decides with a deep sigh to give up. Tossing her covers aside Ari quietly goes to sit at her window seat, the Nevada countryside spread out before her in all directions with a beautiful star-peppered sky spreading just as far overhead and the full moon casting everything in a soft light. Ari draws her short-clad legs to her chest, wrapping her bare arms around them, and lays her head atop her knees as she stares out at this new world of hers, though a temporary one. It’s so peaceful here, quiet. One would never guess that aliens arrived on Earth only a few days ago. A week, Ari realizes with a start. From what Sideswipe told her he and Sunstreaker arrived about a week ago. And it’s been a week since she bought Sideswipe from the used car dealership. She smiles softly to herself. If anyone had said to her a week ago that she’d be sitting here finally rid of her father, best friends with a couple of aliens, and the new vessel of said aliens’ most precious relic, she would have asked if they’d been drinking down at the bar with her father. How fast life can change, though it doesn’t feel like it’s only been a week. Her old life feels like an entire lifetime ago. She can’t imagine life without Sideswipe and the others now.

Something suddenly fills Ari’s vision, something dark and glowing blue, and all she has time for is to let out a startled squeak before she is falling backwards off the window seat in surprise, landing with a hard thump on the hardwood floor. She sits up gingerly, rubbing the tender shoulder she landed on, and the sound of quiet laughter filters in through the glass. Looking up she sees Sideswipe’s face at her window, his blue optics glowing with amusement. She glares at him, though it is only half-hearted, and then looks at her bedroom door, afraid to have woken anyone else in the house from her fall, but all is quiet.

Silently she creeps back over to the window, carefully opens it, and speaks just as quietly, “You scared the slag out of me, Sides. Why aren’t you in recharge?”

He shrugs. “I was just stargazing is all, then I saw you at the window. How about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says with a small smile. “Nothing to worry about. Just not tired.”

“Ari,” he deadpans, not buying her attempt at brushing it off. “Why are you still awake?”

She sighs heavily. “I can’t sleep. I just,” she bites down on her bottom lip, glancing away. “I just wish it was all over with already. That I could skip all of this and start moving on.”

“I know, Ari. I know. And it’ll all be over soon, but you’re not making it any easier on yourself by not sleeping.”

“Try telling my brain that. It doesn’t want to shut down.”

“Come on.” Sideswipe holds out a hand, palm up. “Let’s give your brain something else to think about.”

With a little help Ari climbs into Sideswipe’s hand and he carries her away from the house and away from Sunstreaker’s prone form where he lays on the ground in deep recharge.

Ari chuckles softly. “I’m surprised Sunstreaker can stand laying in the dirt like that.”

“Oh, believe me, if he had other options he wouldn’t be.”

Sideswipe goes out into the pasture making sure to keep away from the cows so they don’t get skittish. They’re still not quite sure how to handle the twin bots. Once he’s a good distance away from the house and Sunstreaker so there’s no risk of waking anyone up he lays down, placing Ari on his chassis so she can lay down as well. She shivers slightly despite the warmth coming from Sideswipe’s spark. That’s what she gets for coming out at night in only a pair of shorts and a tank top, she guesses. It’s not really cold but the wind blowing without barrier over the open fields makes it feel like it is. Ari rubs her hands along her arms trying to get warm with the friction. But then Sideswipe’s hands come up to cover her like blankets, like the night he first took Ari away from her father.

Ari absentmindedly strokes a hand along the closest of Sideswipe’s fingers. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he says and she can hear the smile in his voice processor without having to look up. “You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you without being so covered up.”

She glances down at herself, at her bare arms and legs covered in scars, and starts to feel self-conscious. Some of them are just pale lines glimmering slightly in the moonlight. Those, if she really wanted to, could probably be hidden with makeup. It’s the others, though, that she hates. The others are puckered, angry flesh that no amount of makeup would ever be able to conceal. “Yeah, well…I-I normally wear pants and long sleeves when around other people. I don’t like them to…see. But you’ve already seen so I…I guess it’s not so bad.”

One of his fingers starts to ghost over the skin of one arm, gentler than his size suggests he should be capable of. She’s seen this gentleness before but it always manages to surprise her. It’s warm, soothing, and as he pauses on each of the scars engraved into her he says, “You never have to hide from me, Ari. I’ll always be here for you no matter what.”

She tilts her head back so she can look up at his face, his blue optics already trained on her.

“Promise?” she whispers.

He smiles softly. “Promise. With all my spark.”

She smiles back and continues staring up at the sky, feeling warm inside and out. “So, what’s this distraction you were talking about? I would very much like to be able to sleep sometime tonight.”

He chuckles, the sound reverberating deep in his chassis and vibrating into Ari’s bones. “Well, I thought you could stargaze with me. It’s fascinating the pictures humans are able to see out of just scattered dots.”

“You mean the constellations? Honestly, all I know how to find is the Big Dipper and that’s about it.”

“Really?” he asks with slight surprise. “We’ll have to fix that. And I’m the very best teacher.”

Sideswipe goes on to show her the stars in the sky, shining a new light on clusters that before were only random but now start to take shape. Soon she is able to make out the Big Dipper’s companion, the Little Dipper, and then they each form the bigger constellations of the great bears, Ursa Major and Minor. From there he shows her Draco and Hercules, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, Libra and Cepheus. With each new constellation Ari’s eyes grow heavier and heavier even though she tries to fight it. She doesn’t want to go to sleep now. She wants to spend more time with Sideswipe. She likes this, just the two of them staring up at the stars. Ari doesn’t want the night to end.

But of course, as her eyelids finally slip closed and stay that way, the night does end, beckoning the coming morning.

* * *

When Ari wakes up for the second time atop Sideswipe’s chassis it is sometime after dawn but still considered early. She’s curled up on her side, Sideswipe’s hands still cupping her to him, and she’s so comfortable nestled into the warmth of his spark that she doesn’t want to move.

But she has to. She can’t just avoid today until after the trial is over. She has to face this. Face him.

Sideswipe’s thumb begins rubbing soothing circles into her back, apparently already out of his recharge, as if he knows where her thoughts have led her. She looks up at him. His optics are filled with worry but he gives her a reassuring smile.

“Are you ready for this?” he asks.

Ari takes a deep breath and then lets it out slowly. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

Sideswipe helps her back into her room so she can get ready for the day. Since she has to go to court she has to dress at least semi-formally. None of those types of clothes are among the few she brought, but Sarah was kind enough to lend her a long skirt to cover her legs and she uses one of her long-sleeved shirts. A pair of flats also from Sarah complete the outfit though they are slightly too big for Ari. But no matter. She’s going to be sitting down most of the time anyway.

The rest of the Autobots show up on the Lennox farm shortly before it is time to leave. Ari honestly didn’t expect them to come but when she sees the semi, truck, sports car, and rescue vehicle pull up on the property a bit of the tension releases from her shoulders. Ari, Lennox, and Sarah then pile into the cars, the baby, Annabelle, being left with a babysitter. Without her having to ask, Lennox and Sarah get into Ironhide so that Ari can be alone with Sideswipe, for which she is grateful. She needs time to herself right now and doesn’t want to be around anyone else. Except Sideswipe, of course. She doesn’t think she could ever ask him to go away. Not like he would have listened if she asked anyway though.

Still, he understands her want for silence so he stays that way for the half hour drive to the courthouse in Tranquility, just playing soft, soothing music on his radio. It doesn’t help though. For every mile they travel it feels like Ari’s muscles are getting tighter and tighter with tension. When they finally pull up, she’s not sure she can even get out of Sideswipe’s alt form. Sideswipe releases his seatbelt from around her but she just sits there, clutching the steering wheel with both hands so tightly her knuckles turn white.

“Ari,” Sideswipe says softly. “It’s time to go.”

“I…,” she swallows but her mouth feels so dry now. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

She looks out the windshield, seeing Lennox introduce Sarah to the holoforms of the Autobots as they kindly wait for her. They’re all dressed up in nice attire, Sarah in a pretty sun dress and Lennox in a dress shirt, jacket, and tie, and the Autobots all conjured better clothes than usual for their holoforms based on Lennox’s example. Except for Ratchet. He just looks normal since the clothes he was already wearing, the white dress shirt, beige slacks, and yellow vest, are already semi-formal enough. She tries to will herself to go join them but her legs refuse to move. It’s not until her door opens that she notices Sideswipe’s holoform is activated too. He’s all dressed up like the others, with a deep blue dress shirt and black jacket, but he decided to forgo the tie and left the top few buttons of his shirt undone.

Sideswipe squats down beside her so that he is looking up at her. “Ari, it’s alright. Nothing is going to happen.”

“I know,” she says, her voice only slightly shaking. “I know. But I just…I-I’ve been afraid of him all my life, and after all he’s done to me and put me through, the thought of being in the same room with him again….”

“I know you’re scared. But you won’t be in any danger. I’ll make sure of it. Besides,” he gives her a half-smile, “this isn’t nearly as bad as taking on Megatron, is it?”

Ari bites her lip nervously but a small smile does start to tug at the corners. “I don’t know. I almost would rather take him on again.”

“But you were alone then,” he says, his blue, human eyes boring into hers. “You were able to offline him alone. But right now, facing your father, you won’t be alone. We’re all here with you.” He stands up, holding out a hand. “So, what do you say? Think you can do this?”

Ari looks at the hand and then up at Sideswipe’s face, his cocky smile fully in place. He has total faith in her when she has so little in herself. Sideswipe has faith that she will be able to face her father, head held high, and help deliver the justice he deserves. Sideswipe even has faith that she’ll be able to take his outstretched hand when physical contact is still incredibly difficult for her. She hasn’t had a whole lot of time to work on it with him since they first discussed it. So would she even be able to touch him right now?

You have to try, she tells herself. You can’t just keep sitting here doing nothing. You have to face this thing head on or else nothing will change. Nothing will get better.

And Ari wants to get better. She wants to be able to touch Sideswipe whenever she wants, or Lennox or Sarah or Epps or the other holoforms or anyone else. She wants to feel comfortable in her own skin again.

And, more than anything, she wants to be able to face her father and show him he does not control her anymore. He’ll never be able to hurt her or bend her to his will ever again.

No more.

Tentatively, Ari reaches out her hand until her fingers brush the skin of Sideswipe’s. It’s soft and rough at the same time, like there are callouses from hard labor dappling his palm, and beneath it is the slight humming of his spark coursing through his holoform. She clings to that feeling, the feel of his spark always something she’s found comforting, and grips his hand. His smile broadens into a grin as he hauls her to her feet and shuts his own door. Ari smiles back and looks down at their joined hands.

Her hand is shaking. And sweaty. Unease crawls over her skin originating from Sideswipe’s hand, oozing into her lungs until it starts to get harder to breathe.

But she manages to hold on. At least for a little while. Then she has to let go before she starts freaking out. But still. It may not be a huge improvement but it’s better than she was able to do before.

“Alright,” she says, now with a bit more confidence in herself. “Let’s go.”

Once inside they meet up with Ari’s lawyer, a fresh-faced man who looks young enough to not be that long out of legal school, and her Child Protective Services representative, a short, comely older woman with a kind smile. Together they all head into the courtroom.

There are quite a few people there, most of which Ari knows are probably curious reporters looking for a good story. She wishes they would go away and leave her alone, mind their own business, but the courtroom is a public place. No one can keep them out. She glances at the Autobots nervously, worrying about all these people with cameras seeing them, but figures no one could possibly know nor could they find out. At the head of the room near the tall desk for the judge is the seating for the jury, a group of about nine men and woman of varying ages.

Ari’s father is already there, facing away from her towards the front of the room, and sitting with his lawyer at the table on the left side in front of the judge’s desk. He’s dressed in one of the business suites he usually wears for work. Or used to, since he got fired. And hopefully, after today, he won’t have any occasion to wear anything but an orange jumper for a long, long time. Ari steadily continues to walk forward passed the rows of wooden chairs on either side. Lennox, Sarah, and the Autobots go to take up these seats on the right side of the room behind the table where she will be. She looks at Sideswipe, wishing he could stay with her. By the look in his eyes he wishes he could too, but all he can do is lightly brush his fingers across her forearm reassuringly and join the others. She licks her lips nervously and follows her lawyer and CPS worker passed the railing to the vacant table.

As she sits down she finally looks into her father’s face. Ron is stoic, the mask she knows so well fully in place, but she can still see the anger, resentment, and loathing in his dark eyes. Ari clenches her jaw, refusing to be the first to look away, and sends her own anger back at him. He’s the reason they’re here. He’s the reason he’s going to be going to jail. He’s the reason her life for the past ten years has literally been torture. He’s the reason their family fell apart. It’s all on Ron and she refuses to let him drag her down with his stare, a stare that usually would have her cowering by now.

The voice of a man speaking loudly “All rise” has them both looking away and everyone stands as the judge appears to sit behind his desk. He’s a man at least in his late fifties with a pair of glasses perched on his nose and a black robe billowing around him as he sits down. He tells everyone else to do the same and then the trial begins.

It passes mostly in a blur, both lawyers going back and forth, though there isn’t much Ron’s lawyer can do. Ron pleads guilty at the beginning. All the lawyer can do is try to tone down the extent of what has been done to Ari, tone down Ron’s cruelty, and hope to get as light a sentence as possible for Ron. Though, considering the evidence they have, from the scans of Ari’s body Ratchet did depicting her various injuries over the years to the footage of Ron almost raping her, even the hope of achieving a light sentence seems bleak for him. Ari wishes they didn’t have to show the tape of Ron on top of her in his bedroom, but it’s the most sure-fire way to prove that it is Ron who did these things to her, and not someone else, without Ari having to testify. It’s basically the reason Ron had to plead guilty instead of trying to prove otherwise. Ron’s lawyer could have tried to tear her testimony apart if she had to go up there, but actually seeing Ron’s face. No one can deny that. Not even Ron. She’s glad she doesn’t have to testify since they have it, but still has to look away when it’s played. Flashbacks start to play across her mind and she looks back at Sideswipe sitting right behind her, taking comfort from his presence.

Hours later, the time comes for the jury’s verdict.

And the judge’s decision of the charges.

The full twenty years in prison.

And then all Pit breaks loose.

Before the officer can get to him, Ron dashes out of his chair and runs straight at Ari. Fear grips her tightly, images of Ron running at her with a knife ghosting over her vision, and all she can do is stare in wide-eyed horror.

Then Sideswipe is there, right in front of her, holding her father back with firm hands on his shoulders. Keeping her safe like he said he would. Sunstreaker joins him, pulling Ron’s arms roughly behind his back and handing him over to the officer who then promptly puts Ron in handcuffs.

“It’s not me you should be arresting,” Ron screams, still struggling to get at her. “It’s them! They’re the dangerous ones! Do you think those are their cars out there? They’re not. They’re giant aliens! They’re the reason for Mission City. We need to stop them before it happens again!” Before he can say more he’s dragged from the room by a handful of cops, all the while the members of the press present are taking pictures and asking questions. Ari’s fear slowly starts to ebb until Ron is out of sight.

“Slag,” Sideswipe says, staring after him. “That guy has a lot of guts. Think he’ll have to do more time for that stunt?”

Sunstreaker snorts. “That or he’ll get committed to an insane asylum.”

The judge bangs his gavel three times, the sound resounding around the large room and calling for silence. “How about we finish things? In my chambers would perhaps be best.”

They all start to file out, the press staying behind much to their disappointment. The Autobots have to stay behind, too, much to Ari’s disappointment. It’s just her, the judge, her CPS worker, her lawyer, Lennox, and Sarah. Once they’re closed in the judge’s office, a fairly large room with bookcases filled with books, both legal books and classic literature, and a large wooden desk covered in piles of case files, Ari turns to her lawyer in confusion, “What else is there to discuss?”

“We have to talk about where you’re going next,” her lawyer tells her.

“I’m just going to be going into foster care,” she looks towards the judge, “right?” The thought of going into foster care scares her, she admits, but she knew going into this it was inevitable. Staying with the Lennoxs was only ever just a temporary thing until the trial was over and she has no other family that can take her. Her only comfort is that Keller promised that, wherever she ends up, Sideswipe will still be able to go with her.

However, the judge gives her an incredulous look, his eyebrows shooting up. He looks at Lennox and Sarah. “You haven’t told her?”

Lennox scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish. “We kinda wanted it to be a surprise.”

Ari looks around at everyone’s faces and she seems to be the only one confused. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

Her lawyer takes out a packet of papers from his briefcase. “Mr. And Mrs. Lennox have expressed the wish to adopt you.”

Ari’s brain shuts down as her mouth hangs open, unable to utter a single sound. Adoption? Lennox and Sarah want to adopt her? They’ve known her less than a week. Why would they want to do that? She’s shy, unsociable, her hobbies are minimal. She’s not good at anything of note. Sure, she gets good grades, but she’s never going to be normal, and that’s not even including being the AllSpark. She can’t stand to be touched. They may never be able to hug her or kiss her or play with her like they can and will with Annabelle. Pit, she doesn’t even know what she’s going to do with her life. They already have a baby to take care of and now they want to take on a teenager?

“W-why?” Ari says, the word coming out raspy, so she coughs and says again, “Why? Why are you doing this?”

Lennox and Sarah share an uneasy glance and then Sarah asks her, “Do you not want us to adopt you?” When Ari fails to respond right away Sarah becomes more panicked, her hands flying up to cover her cheeks in shock and her words tumbling out in a rush, “Oh my gosh, you don’t, do you? We presumed too much. Will told me you two got along so well before you came to the house and then we all were having such a good time the past few days and you seemed happy and we thought you would like this but you just look horrified. I’m so, so sorry! I-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Ari says and waves her hands in the air to signal Sarah to stop. The question and the following ramble took Ari by surprise but she can’t let this go on. “I’m not horrified, just…surprised. That you would want to take me in after only knowing me less than a week.”

A warm, understanding smile grows on Sarah’s face. “Of course we want you, Ari. You feel so much like a part of our family already and there’s no way we’re letting you go into the foster system. I’ve heard the horror stories and I refuse to let you go through that.”

Ari looks to Lennox, silently asking his thoughts. He puts an arm around Sarah’s shoulders. “We’ve discussed this a lot, Ari,” Lennox says, “and we both agree. We want you to be a part of our family. That is, so long as you want to.”

Tears sting at the backs of Ari’s eyes. “Where…Where will I be staying?” she asks quietly.

“Same room you’re in now,” Sarah says. “We’ll help you decorate it however you like and we’ll help you move the rest of your stuff in.”

“Will I still go to the same school?”

“Yep,” Lennox replies. “Tranquility is the closest city to us anyway.”

“What would I…call you?”

“You’re more than welcome to call us Mom and Dad, but if you’re not comfortable with that, then Will and Sarah is fine.”

“What about…,” she takes in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “What about my name?”

“You can keep your last name,” her lawyer interjects. Ari had almost forgotten anyone else was in the room. “Or you can take on their last name. It’s entirely up to you.”

Ari bites her lip, uncertainty spinning around her head. She’s been Arianna Samantha Witwicky, daughter of Judy and Ron Witwicky, her entire life. All she’s known is loneliness, abandonment, and abuse. What would it be like to be someone else? To start a new life with new people? People who may actually come to love her like parents should? But what about her real parents? Yes, they’ve caused her so much pain, but they’re still her parents. Is it right for her to just give them up and move on? Should she give up the legacy of her name, the name of her great-great grandfather, a great man who gave up so much for her to come into the lives of the Autobots?

But there is also the stirring of hope within her. The hope of a better life and a better future.

Perhaps it’s time to rid herself of her old life. Perhaps it’s time to let go of the past.

After a few short moments she nods tentatively. “Alright.”

Slow smiles spread across their faces. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think I would like to be Ari Lennox.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	15. Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a Father's Day present
> 
> This chapter you find out more about just how different Ari is now.

"Ratchet, is this really necessary?" Ari whines. She's sitting in Ratchet's hand back at the Hoover Dam base. A temporary med bay has been set up in one of the hangers where Ratchet has been treating both Cybertronian and human soldiers from the Mission City battle. Protruding from one of his fingers is a very large needle. The thought of being poked with it makes her a little queasy.

Ratchet gives her a withering glare, "Yes, it is necessary. It's been days and we still have no idea the extent of what the AllSpark has done to you. I've held off on running tests as you requested until after the trial with your parental unit and I kept my word. Yesterday is over with and _now_ you will let me figure out how your body has changed do to the AllSpark energy. You could be malfunctioning right now and not even know it."

Ari rolls her eyes. "If this was going to harm me, then Primus never would have let this happen. He would have picked someone else or found some other way of preserving the AllSpark energy."

"But nothing like this has ever happened before. Even before the war very little was known of the AllSpark. Having its energy transfer into a human could have dire consequences that none of us could ever have predicted. Humans were never meant to hold so much energy in their bodies at once. It could be deteriorating your body."

"But, Ratchet, I feel fine. If something that harmful were happening to me don't you think I'd have noticed by now?"

"Ari," Ratchet says with a tired sigh, "can you please just let me finish my tests, if for nothing else, then just to put my processor at ease?"

Ari crosses her arms in front of her chest. She knows there's no point to it. Nothing bad is going to happen to her. She has faith in Primus and the Primes. But she has to admit, Ratchet has a point. No human was ever meant to have this happen to them. There are probably some changes. But that's what she's afraid of. If there are changes, what are they? How different is she now?

Is she even still human anymore?

Yes, ultimately, she's glad she's taken on the AllSpark. She will never regret that decision or ever wish to go back and change it. But how different has it made her? She's always been an outsider before, but will this make her more so?

“Femme, just do it,” Sunstreaker says from where he and his brother stand, leaning against the wall not too far away. “Arguing with Ratchet over this stuff will never get you anywhere. Trust me. Keep arguing and he’ll just sedate you.”

“Yes, I will,” Ratchet agrees, eying the twins. “Speaking of which, don’t think I haven’t noticed that you two haven’t come in for your routine medical exam after the battle. As soon as I’m done with Ari, you’re next.”

They both cringe and then Sideswipe glares at Sunny. “Thanks a lot, bro.”

Ari laughs. “Told you you couldn’t run forever.”

“Now that that’s settled,” Ratchet says, “can I please continue my examination?”

With a deep sigh Ari nods her head and holds out her arm. She can’t run from this and it will probably just be better to get it over with. Still, she turns her head, closing her eyes tight, as the needle pierces through her skin, allowing Ratchet to take a blood sample. He then goes through a series of tests, both physical and mental. He takes scans of her anatomy and an extensive scan of her brain. He also scans the AllSpark mark on her arm. He tests her reflexes, like a normal doctor would do, by gently knocking her knee causing it to lift up on its own, and also tests her eyesight, breathing, and blood pressure. He tests her memorization skills for both short and long-term memories. Suffice it to say, it is several hours before Ratchet is done.

“This is incredible,” Ratchet mutters to himself as he goes over the results in his processor.

Ari bites her lip. “What’s incredible? Has there been a lot of changes?”

He nods distractedly. “Yes. Many, many changes.

Wrapping her arms around herself Ari shifts her weight from foot to foot where she stands nervously on the floor. This is what she was afraid of. She’s different now. Really different. Will everyone else start seeing her as different, too? Although, maybe the changes really aren’t that bad. She doesn’t feel different. She hasn’t noticed anything odd.

Sideswipe growls. “Slagit, Ratchet, just tell us already. You’re scaring her.”

Ratchet shoots him an angry glare that doesn’t even faze Sideswipe and then turns to Ari, holding out his hand for her to climb on again. “Alright, youngling, this is what I know.” He activates a hologram, light shining out of his optics to project an image of Ari’s internal body in the air in front of her. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker step closer to get a better look as well. “Most of the changes seem to have occurred in your brain.” The image changes to a close up of her brain. Most of the area is covered in shades of red and a little bit of orange, showing her brain activity. “This is what your brain looks like now. And this is what a normal human brain should look like.” The projection shifts to another brain, this one covered in many colors, blues, greens, and yellows taking up the majority of the picture with only a little bit of red and orange.

“What…What does it mean?” Ari asks.

“It means you are now using your brain at a much higher capacity than humans normally do. As far as I can tell, your brain appears to be what will control the AllSpark processes once you start developing your abilities, but the energy itself is originating from here.” The image changes to a close up of Ari’s arm, more specifically, the AllSpark mark. He zooms in even further until they can see, beneath the black mark, several dots and lines all throughout it.

“What is that?”

“It’s circuitry, embedded into the mark. It seems to be Cybertronian but it is far more sophisticated than anything I’ve ever seen in any bot. It’s not only the source of the AllSpark energy but it also seems to be acting as a controlling device, allowing the energy to integrate into your systems without overtaxing them and causing you to offline. And the changes to your other systems are extraordinary. Your muscles and bones appear to be more resilient. With proper training you will most likely be able to become faster and stronger than most femmes your size and age. Your immune system is functioning on a level higher than even the healthiest human on record. Your body will now be able to fight off even the most deadly of diseases found on Earth. Your body’s ability to heal is even working faster than before. The bruises and scrapes you have obtained in the past orn both from your parental unit and the battle with the Decepticons have fully healed, wounds that should have needed a few more Earth days. It’s as if the AllSpark has changed your body in order to protect itself, to be a better-suited vessel that will be more likely to survive than any normal human body would.”

Ari nods, eyes wide and not really seeing anything. It’s a _lot_ to take in. She’s…changed, but it’s…not as bad as she feared. “So I basically went from being a china doll to being made of plastic?”

Three sets of optics slightly dim which Ari has associated by now with them looking up something on the internet that they don’t know. She keeps forgetting that they still have a lot to learn about Earth culture. _I guess it’ll just take time and they’ll have to learn one conversation at a time. I wonder if there will_ ever _be a day when they don’t have to look something up though._

Their optics brighten again and Ratchet nods. “Yes, that is an appropriate way to put it. You are still very breakable compared to the Cube or even Cybertronians but now you are less so.”

“If that’s the case,” Sunstreaker says, “then does that also mean it will stop her aging in order to make her as resilient as the Cube was?”

Ari’s eyes widen. She hadn’t even considered that. The Cube didn’t need to worry about anything like aging. It was made of metal. It couldn’t be destroyed by anything short of the raw energy of a spark. In order to survive, will the AllSpark make her ageless as well? Does she even _want_ to live forever? Sure, it’s the wish of countless humans to never die and has led to many ambitious projects, from Ponce de Leon and his search for the Fountain of Youth to people trying to extend human life with science. But would it really be worth it? To live forever just to watch everyone else die?

But….

Ratchet shakes his head. “Although that is a logical conclusion considering these other changes it appears that will not be the case. Her aging process is the same as it was before. She will live no longer or lesser than any other human.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Sideswipe says, looking at her with a smile.

But is it a relief? If she dies, then the AllSpark will need to transfer to a different carrier in order to continue its existence. Will they be able to create another Cube? Or will Primus choose another human to drag into this war like her?

What clutches at her heart the most is the thought that she _will_ die one day, and unless something happens in battle, Sideswipe will live on for a very, very long time. Ari isn’t sure how she feels about that, but she does know it makes her heart fall into the pit of her stomach. She’ll miss him, and wonders if he’ll miss her, too.

She’s interrupted from her thoughts when Lennox walks into the hanger stretching his arms above his head, working out the stiff muscles he must have gained from sitting through yet another meeting. “So, how’s our patient?”

Ari greets him with a smile. “Hey, Len-err…Will.” It’s odd, calling Lennox by his first name now. She’s still trying to wrap her head around the idea of Will being her adoptive father. He seems too young to her to have a daughter so old. But she’s grateful. He’s saved her in so many ways over the past week.

“It seems Ari will be just fine,” Ratchet answers as he places Ari back on the ground. “Though there are many changes to her body, none of them are detrimental to her health.”

“Told you so,” Ari mutters, but Ratchet just ignores her.

“There is, however, something that worries me,” Ratchet continues. “Ari seems to be giving off the same energy signature as the AllSpark. It’s not as strong as the Cube, but it is still noticeable on scanners.”

Sideswipe stiffens. “And if we can sense it, so can the ‘Cons. Do you think they’ll use it to find her again?”

“Most likely, yes. If not for the reason of Ari herself, since Decepticons are known for holding a grudge, then for the fact that a human is giving off the same readings as the AllSpark. If they find out what she has become, then there is no telling what they’ll do.”

Shivers run up Ari’s spine. Perhaps her fears of being experimented on are not over after all. And the Decepticons will be far worse than anything she imagined humans would do to her. “How…How long until they find out do you think?”

“Chances are they are not searching for it, which is to our advantage, but if they get within approximately three miles of you, then they will surely notice. However, we will most likely not have to worry about it for some time. Their numbers are greatly diminished. From the Mission City battle only Starscream, Barricade, and Blackout were unaccounted for as being among the offlined. They wouldn’t risk attacking with just the three of them. They will have to wait until others arrive. But we are probably not the only ones who sent out a message into space telling Cybertronians to come here. As more Autobots arrive so, too, will Decepticons.”

Fear grips at Ari’s chest at the thought of dozens of Decepticons coming to Earth, all with the intent of capturing her. They’ll find out about her. She knows they will, especially once they start fighting back against the Autobots again. Surely they’ll get within three miles of her then. Or perhaps they’ll simply go after her for revenge. Or maybe they’ll want to use her to get the Autobots. The possibilities are endless, but all with the same end result. They’ll discover she’s the AllSpark. There’s no way around it. And when they do, they’ll come for her in force. “What can we do?”

“There is nothing much we _can_ do for the time being except make sure you constantly have Autobot protection, which you already do with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. That will have to be enough for now, but I will work on creating a device to mask the energy signature. Once more Autobots arrive we may have an additional bot stay with you when you are at home, but other than that we just pray to Primus they do not find out too soon.”

“There’s nothing you need to worry about, Ari,” Sideswipe says with his cocky grin in place. “They won’t even get within three miles of you. With the two of us with you it’s practically guaranteed.”

Ari gives him a small smile, his optimism comforting, but she’s still worried. The last thing she wants to do is put any of them in danger because of her. But she’s their AllSpark now. They’ll probably move worlds if they have to in order to keep her safe. She wonders if they would still do the same for her if she were still a normal human.

Conversation shifts and Ratchet discusses with Will his discoveries concerning her. Ari just leaves them to it and goes over to the twins, Sideswipe bending down to pick her up so that she’s sitting in his palm with her legs dangling over the side. “So,” he says, “think the Hatchet will forget about us?”

“Not in a million stellar cycles,” Ratchet calls over. “And don’t even think about running. I’ll be done with Captain Lennox in a moment and then it’s your turn.”

Ari laughs at the sour look on the twins’ faceplates. “Oh, come on, guys, it won’t be so bad. If I could do it, so can you.”

“Yeah, but Ratchet is nice to you,” Sunstreaker says. “He’ll probably make this more painful than it has to be for us.”

“What did you do, prank him one too many times?”

Sideswipe grins mischievously. “Maybe. But it’s worth it.” Ari shakes her head disapprovingly but there is a big grin on her face. “We should take you with us on our next prank. Show you the ropes.”

Sunny nods thoughtfully. “Yeah, she’d be able to sneak around a lot better than we can. Humans may be tiny and squishy, but I’m sure it would be hard for Ratchet to hit her with one of his wrenches.”

Ari frowns slightly. “I’ve never really been the trouble-making kind. I’m usually more of a wallflower.”

“Well, not anymore,” Sideswipe says, drawing her close to his face. “The past ten years are over now. Now, it's time you start _living_.”

As soon as Ratchet is done talking to Will, the bot, despite loud and obnoxious protests, forces Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to sit through examinations. Once cleared he kicks everyone out stating he has a lot of work to do and a data packet to prepare for Optimus on Ari. So, the twins take Ari and Will back to Ari's old house.

It's time to move out, for good this time.

They all head inside using Ari's key, Sunny and Sides in holoform, with boxes in hand. It's odd walking into the house she's known for as long as she can remember. She's never known any other place as home, and home has always been associated with fear. Ari looks into the shadows blanketing the rooms and halls, almost expecting to see her father sitting in the living room surrounded in beer bottles, but as her eyes adjust to the little light streaming through the cracks in the drapes she can see there is nothing to fear of this house anymore. Ron isn't lurking in the living room or kitchen. Ari no longer has to guess what mood he's in, no longer has to try and sneak past him and pray she can make it to her room without him noticing. She no longer has to endure a knife gouging into her skin or kicks to her ribs. She no longer has to endure the sound of Ron and his girls making noises all throughout the night.

The nightmare is finally over. There are still some lingering fears, but with the twins on either side of her and Will at her back she is able to put one foot in front of the other and walk passed the places in the house that hold the most torturous memories, refusing to let them control her anymore.

“This is your room?” Will asks, getting a look at the sparse space of her bedroom for the first time.

“Yeah,” she answers. Or at least, it used to be. Looking at it now, it doesn’t feel like her room anymore, more like a stranger’s room. Even though it’s only been a few days since she was last in this room, sleeping in this bed, doing homework at the desk, she doesn’t feel like the same person anymore. And it’s not just because of the AllSpark. She’s not the same small, scared little girl anymore. She stood up to her father, finally speaking out against him and giving him what he deserves. She took on the most dangerous alien robot in the universe and won. She held her ground against self-absorbed politicians. No, the girl she was the last time she was in this space would not have been able to do all those things. Ari still has plenty of fears, sure, but she’s facing them now, one at a time.

“I thought humans usually have more belongings?” Sunstreaker asks, this also being his first time seeing her room.

Ari nods. “Yeah. Usually. Normally it’s things like posters and books, small objects that hold sentimental value.”

They look around the room, at the bare walls and the bare surfaces of the desk and dresser. “Where are yours?”

“Here.” She goes to the closet, opening the door to reveal the objects hidden within, pushed into a corner on the floor.

Will shoots her an incredulous look. “This is all you have?”

“This is all I have left that I didn’t take before, when I first left with Sideswipe.” It really isn’t a lot left. Just the three books she didn’t grab before, a small box holding her great-great grandfather’s old things, and the picture of her mother. Then there are some clothes hanging up in the closet, some more left in the dresser, and that’s it. “This is all I own.”

“Is this amount unusual for most humans?” Sunstreaker asks.

“Yeah,” Will says, eyes slightly wide in shock. “Unless you’re poor, that is. But I’ve seen homeless people with more stuff than this.”

“I used to have more,” Ari says with a sad smile, not meeting anyone’s gaze. “But after my mom left us Ron…took to destroying my things when he got really mad. So what little I’ve managed to hold onto I’ve kept hidden in my closet.”

Sideswipe growls, the sound low and menacing, and his eyes turn a darker shade of blue. “The more I hear about this guy, the more I wish Optimus would have just let us offline him.” His fists clench tightly at his sides, the knuckles turning white, and Ari tentatively reaches out, caressing the back of his hand with a light fingertip. She’s still not used to actions such as this, still preferring to keep physical contact to a minimum. But it’s getting easier. A spark seems to jolt through her, though not unpleasant, and she’s able to keep herself from moving away a few seconds longer than she normally would have. This is another fear she is slowly learning to conquer.

Instantly Sideswipe’s grip releases and her eyes turn upward to meet his, the color already returning to normal.

“It’s alright, Sideswipe,” she says softly. “He can’t hurt me anymore.”

With a deep sigh he nods and they all set about packing away Ari’s things silently. Altogether, her belongings don’t even fill one of the cardboard boxes they brought. Will shoots her sad glances when he thinks she isn’t looking, but she sees them. There is also a slight determination in the tension in his jaw. She’s not sure what it is he’s thinking but she hopes it isn’t going to lead to him buying her a million things. Yes, she doesn’t have a lot, but it doesn’t really bother her. Sure, there are some books she wishes she had, but she’s been fine without them. She’s not big into jewelry and she doesn’t really care what clothes she wears so long as they’re comfortable, so her old, worn jeans and shirts are just right to her and it’s not like they’re riddled with holes. At least, most of them aren’t. Any movies she’s ever wanted to watch she’s been able to find online and watch on her laptop, though not necessarily through the legal sites, admittedly. Everything else she’s just…never experienced before so ignorance has kept her from knowing what she’s missing out on. It’s not like she even knows if she’d like any of it or not, so she just doesn’t think about it.

She just doesn’t think about any of it. That way it can’t bother her.

With all of her stuff gathered they leave the house, Ari locking up behind them. Before she climbs into the driver's seat of Sideswipe's alt mode she looks back one last time. In a way, she's going to miss the place. A lot of bad happened here, but a lot of good happened, too. The first six years of her life, although Ari can't remember much, she does remember there being happiness in her family. Her mom and dad loved each other. They loved her. They would do things, go places, like actual families do. How or when that love died, Ari isn't sure, even now knowing what she does about the circumstances of her mom leaving.

After that was a lot of bad. A lot of things she would rather forget, that will continue to haunt her dreams for a very long time.

But then Sideswipe came along. He reached into the darkness of her life and shined a light she had long since forgotten. What would have happened, she wonders, if things had happened...differently? If her father hadn't turned out the way he did. If her mom hadn't left. Would Sideswipe still have ended up in her life? She doesn't know. But still. If all the bad had to happen in order for her to get that one good...it was worth it.

And that's what she'll remember, when she thinks of this house. She'll remember the good.

* * *

Unpacking in her new room is short and the room still looks bare, but Ari no longer has to hide her things in the back of a closet. The small stack of books is on the dresser, her clothes all in their proper places, her school supplies fill the desk with her laptop on top, and her iPod is charging on the nightstand. She’s still not sure what to do with her mom’s picture so she just shoves it in a drawer for now.

Speaking of school, Ari still has to take her exams. She forgot all about it in the chaos of the past few days’ events. She was too busy getting kidnapped by Sector Seven and then the Battle of Mission City happened and then getting interrogated and becoming the AllSpark and...yeah...it's been a very busy week. So that was the first thing Will did as her foster father when they got back. He called Tranquility High, explaining what happened. Or, at least, the bended truth of what happened. It was decided that she got caught up in everything that happened in Mission City, so it's at least semi-truthful, and that it was terrorists. That's all she’s allowed to say about it, if asked. It was terrorists. How this is holding up with the actual Mission City residents, she doesn't know. The government is probably having fun though.

So Will and the school got it all set up for her to take her exams tomorrow so that her grades can be finalized before report cards go out. Now she is studying at her desk, her Chemistry book opened in front of her, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker lounging on her bed.

“Hey, femme, hand over a piece of paper,” Sunstreaker demands after only a few minutes. She hadn’t even gotten to the proper page in her textbook yet.

Ari turns around, leveling him with an unimpressed gaze and leaning back in her desk chair.

“What? Did I say it wrong? Is it not paper?”

“No, it’s paper, but you did say it wrong.”

He cocks his head to the side. “How did I say it wrong?”

Sideswipe sighs. “You’re being rude again, Sunny, that’s what.”

“Just because I agreed to help you be her Guardian and stuff doesn’t mean I have to be nice. We’ve been over this.”

“It’s okay, Sideswipe,” Ari says, pulling a piece of paper out of her folder and handing it to Sunstreaker. “We all know Sunny secretly likes me.”

“No, I don’t!” Sunstreaker growls, nose crinkled in disgust. “I don’t like any of you humans. You’re all oily and sweaty and disgusting. And stop calling me that!”

Ari laughs. “You can deny it all you want, but it doesn’t matter. It’s okay, though. _I’ll_ still claim you as my friend.”

Sunstreaker huffs and she chuckles as she turns back to her homework, flipping through her book to the first chapter they did after the midterm and taking out her notes. Chemistry has never been Ari’s strongest subject, science in general isn’t, but she’s always been a hard worker. Despite what her home life was like she is a straight A student, at the top of her class. Still, she’s glad the final exam isn’t cumulative.

Behind her, there is the sound of paper tearing and she sighs. _Why did Sunny want paper just to tear it up?_ She can hear him crumbling it up and then, not long after, something hits the back of Ari’s head.

_Oh, no, he did not._

She determinedly does not turn around, instead staying focused on her book. Or at least trying to. There is more tearing and then a small paper ball lands on her desk, apparently having missed her head.

The next one does not.

Ari sighs heavily, tapping a finger on her desk while trying to control her irritation. But when the next one hits her, this time followed by chuckles, she relents. “Look, Sunstreaker,” she says in exasperation, “I know you’re bored, but I gotta study. I would like to not have to repeat my sophomore year.”

“Hey, that last one wasn’t me,” Sunstreaker says, deep amusement in his voice.

Ari whirls on the twins, her eyes narrowing first on Sunstreaker. A huge grin is plastered on his face as he lies back on her bed, his hands folded behind his head creating a pillow. Sideswipe sits at the end of the bed next to his brother’s crossed feet, a huge grin also in place. Her eyes narrow further at him. Sunny’s right. Sides looks way too guilty to be otherwise. And he is not ashamed.

“Sideswipe,” she says calmly, though her voice is tinged with annoyance, “care to explain yourself?”

He holds up his hands in surrender. “Aw, come on, Ari, we’re just trying to have a little fun.”

She gives him a sickly sweet smile. “Fun would be keying your alt modes while you’re both in recharge.”

They both look at her with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Ari has the strong urge to laugh but she contains it as she continues to smile at them.

“You wouldn’t,” Sunstreaker says, hoping to call her on her bluff.

Her smile grows. “Try me.” They continue to look at her and then look at each other with worried expressions, and then Ari can’t contain it any longer. She laughs, her giggles so hard she has to support herself on the arm rests of her chair. “Oh, you should have seen your _faces_.” It’s another minute or two before she can get her laughter under control and then she sighs happily, any annoyance at the twins dissipating with it. She’s always found it hard to stay annoyed at people, certain, obvious people excluded, but it’s almost impossible for the twins. She can’t be mad at her best friends.

Sideswipe gives her a dirty look. “That’s not funny.”

“Oh, yes it was,” she says, wiping at the tears that leaked from her eyes.

He shakes his head at her but there’s a smile on his face. “See, Sunny? She’s going to be a natural prankster.”

Sunny snorts. “Yeah, but if she ever falls through with that threat I may have to squish the Squishy, Optimus’s orders be slagged.”

Ari laughs, knowing he doesn’t really mean it. He’s all bark and no bite. “Oh, come on, Sunstreaker, I was only kidding. Now can you _please_ leave me alone for a few hours so I can study?”

“We can try,” Sideswipe says with a devilish smile.

She raises a brow at him. “Do I need to kick you two out?”

He laughs. “Nah, we’ll leave you alone. You get to it.”

Ari nods and turns back to her textbook, taking the silence of the twins to mean they are keeping their word and probably talking through their bond so as not to disturb her.

After flipping a few more pages she finds the chapter she needs and starts to read through the important bits she marked down in her notebook. But of course, things aren’t going to be easy for her. Of course not. Since when have things been easy or even normal?

It starts with her hands shaking as she stares at the pages of her textbook. Then her eyes go uncontrollably twitchy as the rest of her starts to shake, especially her head. Ari hears voices but she can’t make out what they’re saying. She tries to say something back but she can’t even open her mouth, her breath caught in her throat, making her feel like she’s suffocating. What’s happening? Is she having a seizure?

That’s when the Cybertronian symbols start to appear in front of her vision, swirling around and seeming to float out of the pages of her Chemistry book. They speed past her eyes almost too fast for her to see. And then an incredible force hits her brain followed by vast amounts of information, facts, formulas, equations, all having to do with chemistry. Her hands start moving on their own, flipping through the pages of her textbook faster than any normal person would be able to read but the information from the text seems to just download into her head.

When she reaches the end of her book she slams it shut and her body freezes, but her mind is still going crazy. Vast amounts of information are still roiling about in her brain and she doesn’t know what to do. All she knows is that her head is staring to hurt and the mark on her arm feels warm. Ari clutches her head with both hands, trying to will it all to stop, and then it does. It stops. Everything stops. There is no more pain. The symbols are gone. The information is gone but…no, it’s still there, tucked away in a corner of her mind that hadn’t been there before. It feels like there’s so much more… _space_ now, but something is holding it back, like a closed door to another room in her head. Gently she releases her head and opens her eyes, not even aware that they had been clenched shut. They’re wet, too, meaning she must have been crying, and she can feel the drying tracks on her cheeks. Looking down at her arm she sees a slight blue glow beneath the sleeve of her shirt and she pushes the fabric up. The AllSpark mark is glowing and she watches it until it finally fades, just a black mark once more.

She looks up at the concerned faces of Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and even Will standing behind them, probably having been called when things started getting weird. In another room she can hear Annabelle crying and Sarah’s voice trying to calm the baby girl.

Ari just looks between the three shocked faces, her own face probably mirroring theirs, and says, “What the frag _was_ that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing at the end, with the flipping of the pages and her gaining all that information, yes, that's based on what Sam could do at the beginning of TF2, what he did with his astronomy book. I figured, since he could do it fairly soon after touching the shard, why not Ari? That's why it doesn't require any of the marks.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	16. No Longer Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, especially considering how things ended last time. A new story idea got stuck in my head and ran away with me so I've been working on that.

Soft, predawn light filters through the crack in Ari’s blue drapes at the Lennox ranch, landing lightly across her closed eyes. She stirs, stretching her limbs with a big yawn. Opening her eyes she just stares at the ceiling, a ceiling she is still trying to get used to. This ceiling is a smooth white. Unblemished. A clean slate. The other ceiling, the one she sees in her dreams, had the popcorn bumps peppered across the surface, creating shadowed hills and valleys for her to stare up at. She can still see it whenever she closes her eyes. Especially at night. It’s what she dreams about most, even more than Mission City. Her just staring up at that ceiling as she’s pushed into her father’s mattress. With a curt shake of her head she forces those thoughts from her mind and quickly gets out of bed. It’s still too early for anyone else to be awake so she puts on one of her hoodies, an old, gray friend with tattered sleeves that she’s had for years, and slips out her bedroom window. She pads softly across the porch roof, the rough shingles scraping against her bare feet, and sits down with her back against the side of the house so she can watch the Nevada sunrise.

There haven’t been too many moments like this for Ari lately. Peaceful moments. Quiet moments. Moments for her to simply think about what’s going on in her life. To think about how much has changed. And what the future may hold. Everything’s been kind of a whirlwind, especially with the latest development with the AllSpark changes. Ratchet forced Ari to undergo at least a dozen different scans to figure out why she started glitching when trying to read her chemistry book. He did every kind of brain scan known to humans, Cybertronians, and some he invented himself. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like. She tried to protest to him causing so much fuss over something that’s obviously a part of her becoming the AllSpark, but honestly, she was freaking out a little bit over it, too. It had felt like a needle was delving slowly through her skull in order to upload a bunch of new data directly into her brain. And according to Ratchet, that’s kind of what happened. The AllSpark has altered the way her brain works and one of the Cube’s functions was to act as a storage unit to all of Cybertronian knowledge. Although she still can’t access the information the AllSpark was already carrying it apparently has given her the ability to acquire new information. The Cybertronian symbols were probably the knowledge the AllSpark already contained, but the information, especially the language it is in, is foreign to Ari’s human brain. It has no way of interpreting it. But anything new she’ll have complete access to. The pain was the AllSpark creating the place in her brain for the new information to be stored. Ratchet said that, if she were to try again, there would be no pain.

So, of course, Ari insisted on trying again. Ratchet argued against it, saying how he wanted to run more tests before potentially putting her through more pain, but she was cracking the Algebra II book she brought with her just in case Ratchet kept her too long before anyone could stop her. The same thing happened as before. She started quickly flipping through the book, scanning the pages faster than any human could possibly comprehend. But she could. This time, however, there was no pain and not even any shaking. The information smoothly flowed into her brain as she felt the new door in her mind open to accept the new knowledge to join the rest.

She can feel it, that door, even now as she watches the sky become painted with reds and oranges and the darkness blanketing the surrounding grasslands slowly recedes. She can feel the doorknob shake slightly, her new knowledge wanting to flood her consciousness again, but she can keep it at bay. She told Ratchet about it, how the knowledge feels like it wants to take her over and drown her, and he said that, with time and practice, she should be able to keep it shoved into the back of her mind until she doesn’t even notice it anymore. It’s a practice Cybertronians themselves have to learn to do when they are sparklings, their processors able to take in enormous amounts of data at a time, and they have to learn how to process only what they want at the time and not allow everything to overwhelm them at once.

So Ari focuses her mind on other things. The slight bite of the chilly morning. The cows beginning to wake up and munch at the grass for breakfast. The way the rising sun reflects off of Sideswipe’s and Sunstreaker’s armor as they recharge.

And what she wants to do next with her life.

It kind of stumps her. Ari didn’t really feel like she had a future when she was under Ron’s control. But she does now. She has a choice. And a family who will support her, and not just the Lennox’s, but the Autobots as well. So that begs to question: What does she want to do? She’s done with her exams, passing with flying colors, although having the help of her handy new ability kind of felt like cheating. Still. She’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. And it’s not like she just opened the door, looked for the answers she was searching for, and was done with it. No, her brain actually understands everything now, a lot better than it used to. It’s like she actually has learned all the concepts, just faster than it normally would have taken.

She basically has the ability to learn whatever she wants to learn. So what should she do with it?

Ari wracks a hand roughly through her tangled brown hair in frustration. She’s only sixteen. How is she supposed to decide what to do with the rest of her life? She’s hardly experienced the world. Yeah, she’s been through things the last few weeks no one ever will, but there are plenty of things others her age do on a daily basis she’s never done before. She doesn’t even know what the inside of a movie theater looks like. With a defeated sigh Ari lays back on the porch roof to gaze up at the disappearing stars. I don’t have to decide right now, she assures herself. I only just finished my sophomore year. Most people don’t think about stuff like this until at least junior year. So it can wait. At least a little longer. For now, start with something small. Like the diner.

She bites her lip. Yes, that is something to think about. The reason she decided to start working at the diner in the first place was to earn money for a car and then college since Ron refused to pay for either. She now has a car, an amazing one at that, and college? Well…she’s not sure. She’s afraid to ask Will and Sarah about that. She’s sure they’d pay for it if she asked; they’ve been taking their responsibilities as her parents very seriously. The ranch Sarah inherited from her grandfather brings in a decent amount of money and Will is going to be earning quite a bit as the head of the new task force. Not to mention the stipend the government has offered her as an incentive to keep quiet about the whole aliens-really-exist thing. But does she want to rely on others? She’s always been the independent sort, having to take care of herself in the absence of any caring fiber in Ron’s body, and she’s sort of used to the idea by now. It’s even strange for her to have a sit-down meal with Sarah, Will, and Annabelle instead of heating up a frozen dinner to eat by herself in her room. Granted, that wasn’t exactly taking care of herself very well and is the reason why she’s malnourished and on the scraggly side, but she had to make do with the amount of money Ron allowed her to have to buy food for herself. But that’s beside the point. She doesn’t have to worry about food anymore. What she has to worry about is how she’s going to pay for college. Is it something she still wants to do on her own? If so, then she’ll definitely need to continue working at Hal’s. And if not? If she does accept help in paying for it? Should she continue working at the diner or hand in her resignation?

The loud clapping of the screen door opening and closing brings Ari out of her musings. Crawling carefully to the edge of the porch roof she peeks over the side to see Will stepping down the porch steps.

“Hi,” she says cheerfully.

Will jerks with surprise, his muscles tensing, and his head snaps up at her. It takes a moment for his soldier reflexes to calm down, but when he recognizes her he narrows his eyes in slight annoyance. But there’s a sparkle of amusement, too.

She gives him a sly grin. “Sorry.”

He shakes his head with a smile as well. “Yeah, sure you are, kiddo. What are you doing up so early?”

“Just woke up early. How about you?”

“Higher ups don’t need me for the negotiations anymore, so I can actually do a little work around here. Was heading to check on the cattle.”

“Can I join you?”

“Sure.”

“Alright. Let me just grab some shoes.” Ari trots back inside, slips into her Converses, and then hops back out the window to make her way down the oak tree at the corner of the house. It was something she did a lot back at Ron’s, climbing down trees. It’s how she got out of the house when she needed a breath of fresh air or to get away when a girl was keeping Ron company. It’s second nature to her now, her hands and feet easily finding places in the bark that will support her. When she lands on the ground with a thump she hears laughter behind her.

Will has a hand over his mouth trying to smother his chuckles. “You know, there is such a thing as the stairs.”

She rubs the back of her neck, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. “Yeah, well, the tree seemed faster.”

Ari and Will fall into step side by side as they approach the cows, the animals munching sloppily at the grass. The smell of manure grows stronger the closer they get causing Ari’s nose to crinkle in disgust. The closest cow, a traditional splotchy black and white, raises its head from the ground to stare at them and Ari’s steps slow. She stares into its big brown eyes in wonder. She’s never been so close to an animal so large. A Saint Bernard once and that’s about it.

Will looks back at her, seeing that she’s come to a halt, and gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. They won’t hurt you.”

Her brow furrows worriedly but she continues to take careful steps forward, pausing just in front of the cow’s head. “Can I…pet it?”

“Yeah,” Will says with a smile, giving the cow’s neck a good pat. “This is Sheila. Real friendly. Just keep your hand away from her mouth. May just think it’s grass and eat it.”

She gives a nervous chuckle but reaches out a hand, inch by inch, until her fingertips touch the short, coarse hair of the cow’s head, right between the ears. Sheila’s eyes stare into Ari’s, big and trusting. Then she snorts uninterestedly and bends her neck down again to eat more grass. Ari laughs and then proceeds to go from cow to cow, meeting and petting them all. They’re such sweethearts and she instantly loves them. Even though they smell. A lot. When they’re done Ari and Will head back to the house. Sarah should be done soon with breakfast and the thought of homemade pancakes and fresh eggs from the chicken coop at the side of the barn makes Ari’s stomach rumble.

As they pass the still-recharging Sideswipe and Sunstreaker Will asks, “So, you’re done with school, the Autobots are on their way to being accepted here on Earth, and you have the entire summer ahead of you. Any plans?”

Ari bites her lip, his question being the very question she had been asking herself earlier. And she’s still not sure of the answer. She takes a deep breath and then decides. “Well, I was thinking of going back and working at the diner.”

Will stops walking, turning to face her. “Diner? What diner?”

“Before…everything, I worked at Hal’s Diner back in Tranquility. It’s how I was able to buy Sideswipe and I was saving up for college.”

Will crosses his arms in front of his chest and gives her a worried look. “Ari, you know you don’t have to pay for college by yourself anymore, right? We’re not gonna make you do that.”

“I know,” she says, shifting from foot to foot. “It’s just…you guys never planned to have me to take care of. Even though paying for me to go to college is something…most parents do, I don’t want you to feel obligated. You have Annabelle. You should focus on worrying about her future, not mine.”

Will sighs, wiping a hand across his face tiredly. He almost reaches the same hand out towards her, but then stops, remembering, curling his fingers into a fist as he lets the hand fall to his side. “Ari, I know Sarah and I haven’t known you for very long, but we’re family now. And family takes care of each other.”

Ari opens her mouth to respond but then the screen door squeaks open, Sarah sticking her head out. “Hey, you two, breakfast is waiting.”

“Alright, we’re coming,” Will calls out to her and then turns to Ari again. “Come on, let’s get some food and then we’ll talk about it some more.”

So, they head inside and Ari enjoys one of the best meals she’s had in a long time. Though she says that about all of Sarah’s meals. When breakfast is finished Ari heads back to her room to get changed. As she goes up the stairs she can hear Will and Sarah talking as they clean up the plates, Will probably telling Sarah about Ari wanting to go back to work at the diner. She takes her time changing into a pair of her ratted jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, kind of dreading this conversation. She feels like she’s disappointing them for some reason even though she knows paying for college by herself is the best for them. When she can’t avoid it any longer she slowly stomps downstairs. Will and Sarah are sitting on the love seat in the living room, Annabelle sitting in the playpen next to it. When Will sees her he gestures for her to sit on the couch perpendicular to them. She takes a seat and waits for one of them to say something first.

“So,” Sarah says, “Will told me you want to go back to work at the diner you were working at before?”

Ari gives a small nod.

“You know you don’t have to do that, right? You don’t have to provide everything for yourself. We’re here to help.”

“I know that, I really do, I just don’t want you guys to feel obligated to pay for things for me. I can take care of everything myself.”

“But that’s the thing, Ari,” Will says, placing an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “We want to pay for things for you. We want to take care of you and pay for college for you. You don’t have to do all of this by yourself and we don’t want you to.”

Ari runs the tip of her tongue over her lips. “But like I said, you didn’t plan on me. I don’t want you to be spending all of your money on me when you still have Annabelle to take care of.”

“How about this,” Sarah says. “We compromise. You let us help you pay for college,” Ari tries to protest but Sarah holds up a hand signaling for Ari to let her finish. “You let us help with college and take care of all of your necessary needs. No paying for food or anything like that. But for anything that you want, like books or gadgets and things, you use your own money you earn at the diner. But you’re not paying for collage all by yourself. Deal?”

Ari rolls the idea around in her mind. It’s still a lot Will and Sarah are going to have to pay for. Colleges aren’t exactly cheap these days and she doesn’t even know which one she’s going to attend yet. But there is that government stipend. They can use that so it won’t be so bad for them. And this way, Ari will actually be able to buy things for herself. She’ll be able to buy all the books she wants and actually find out what the inside of a movie theater looks like. She could decorate her room. Maybe even get herself a TV and DVD player eventually, among other things. Ari smiles. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“I do have one more condition though.” Ari gives Sarah a curious look. “You and me have to go shopping for some new clothes. Our treat.”

Ari’s eyes widen, her cheeks heating slightly. “Oh, no! You don’t have to do that. My clothes are fine.”

“Your clothes are falling apart at the seams,” Will deadpans.

She looks down at herself, at the holes and tattered edges of her clothes. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But I have some money left over from when I paid for Sideswipe. I can buy new clothes myself.”

“Ari.” She looks up at Will. “We’ve missed out on being your parents for the past sixteen years. So please, let us have this one chance to spoil you now.”

Warmth spreads through Ari’s chest. Parents. He just referred to himself and Sarah as her parents. She hasn’t had parents for ten years. Her eyes start to burn with tears threatening to fall but she doesn’t let them. Just gives Will and Sarah a watery smile and nods. Will’s brow furrows in worry, but she shakes her head. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m just…not used to people caring about me.”

“Oh, honey,” Sarah says, getting up from her place beside Will and moving to sit next to Ari on the couch. “Of course we care. And we’re not the only ones, either.”

They all look out the front window where Sideswipe and Sunstreaker now sit, finally online, talking to each other as they gaze out at the cattle.

“Yeah,” Ari agrees. “It’s nice not being alone anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	17. Uncovered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. Again. That new story idea still has me wrapped firmly around its fingers and won't let me go to work on anything else. And I've had a bit of writers block with this story lately so that isn't helping. Hopefully I'll be able to work on this one more soon though.

The only mall in Tranquility is really busy for a Monday. Dozens of groups of teenagers mill around, laughing and goofing off, not really there to go into any of the stores so much as just to be together and have a good time. It really shouldn’t surprise Ari. The feeling of freedom from the start of summer vacation is still fresh in their minds and hearts. And they are enjoying the freedom en mass. It just doesn’t help that this is also the only mall within a fifty mile radius so there are people from many different cities all coming to this one mall to relax and have fun.

This isn’t exactly Ari’s idea of fun.

Ari is constantly sidestepping people in order to avoid touching anyone. Though, with this many people, it’s kind of hard to not bump into a few. It’s not helping her sense of calm at all. A deep claustrophobia grips Ari’s chest with every person who gets so much as a foot near her. The hallways are pretty wide but it’s still not enough. She, Sarah, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker have only been here five minutes and already she wants to find the nearest exit. Or even try to climb out of one of the glass skylights in the high ceiling that let in streams of sunlight.

“Are you alright, Ari?” Sarah asks concernedly as she walks beside Ari.

Ari tries to put on a brave smile but she feels that it turns out as more of a grimace. “Yeah, it’s just-”

Another man brushes against her arm and she instantly shies away, closing her eyes tight to try to fight against the crawling going up her spine. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “It’s just, you know, I don’t really like being touched. And being in a crowd like this isn’t really helping.”

“Well, we’re almost at a store I’m sure you’ll like,” Sarah tries to reassure, but she looks doubtfully ahead at all of the people. “Are you going to be okay with this? Because if you’re not I completely understand. We can try some other time when it isn’t as busy or we could go somewhere else or-”

“No,” Ari says quickly, cutting off another one of Sarah’s rambles. “It’s fine. I need to learn to deal with stuff like this.”

“You can’t force something like this, Ari,” Sideswipe says from her other side. “I know you and I have been trying to desensitize you to human touch but this is a lot more than what we’ve done so far. If you can’t handle this now, then you shouldn’t push yourself. We can try coming back when we’ve gotten further along and you’ll be more comfortable.”

Ari shakes her head defiantly. “No, I want to do this. I _can_ do this.”

He rolls his eyes with a slight smile. “Stubborn.”

Sunstreaker looks intently at Sideswipe from beside his brother and Sides turns to look at him as well. They stare at each other, probably talking over their bond, Ari guesses.

Sideswipe smiles. “That might work. It’s at least worth a try.”

Sunstreaker moves from his place next to Sideswipe to walk to Ari’s left, taking Sarah’s shoulders and gently moving her so that she walks in front of Ari instead. “Just stay right there,” he says.

“O-Okay…,” Sarah says, looking back confusedly at Sunstreaker but does as he tells her.

Now Ari is surrounded, Sarah in front of her, Sunstreaker to her left, and Sideswipe to her right. Sideswipe raises an arm to hover at the small of her back. She can feel the bar of heat through the fabric of her shirt. It doesn’t bother her so much; they’ve progressed pretty well on close proximity between the two of them. So long as he doesn’t touch her she’ll be fine. Then she realizes what they’ve done. They’ve boxed her in, creating a kind of shield around her with their bodies so she is protected from the crowd. They’re still within her comfort bubble, but since they’re people she knows and trusts it’s not so bad. With the twins at either side and so long as she follows exactly behind Sarah she won’t be bumping into anyone else.

Ari gives both twins a grateful smile. “Thanks. This is so much better.”

Sarah looks back at her with a giggle. “You know, I kind of feel like we’re your bodyguards like this.”

“Sides and I kind of are,” Sunstreaker says matter-of-factly, “since we’re her Guardians and all.”

“Aw, Sunny, I knew you cared,” Ari says, hand dramatically placed over her heart.

Sunstreaker glares at her. “If it makes you feel better to believe that, then go right ahead, Squishy.”

“Hey, you pranked Trent DeMarco for me. Some part of you cares. Stop denying it.”

“She’s right, Sunny,” Sideswipe agrees. “You know you don’t do pranks for just anyone.”

“Sure I do,” Sunny says with an evil grin. “How can I say no to pranking someone? I’m always up for a little entertainment no matter who the victim is.”

“Normally I’d believe you except you were the one who suggested we prank Trent in the first place.”

Ari claps happily. “See? He cares!”

“Who’s Trent DeMarco?” Sarah suddenly asks, a glint of concern in her eyes.

Ari’s smile drops. She’s never told Sarah or Will about her bully problems. Before she can come up with something to say Sideswipe answers for her.

“He’s some piece of slag who picks on Ari at school. But not anymore. We took care of it,” Sideswipe says with a proud smirk.

Sarah gasps softly in shock. “Ari, you’re getting picked on at school? Why haven’t you said anything?”

Ari shrugs, looking down at her shoes. They’ve walked off to the side of the hallway now, huddling in a small group in front of one of the stores to be as less in the way as possible so they can talk. “It’s not that big a deal. And it’s not like I’ve seen Trent since staying with you guys anyway.”

“Of course it’s a big deal. If someone is picking on my daughter I want to know about it!”

There she goes again. Referring to Ari as part of her family. Her _daughter_ even though they aren’t related by blood. Warmth saturates Ari’s entire body all the way down to her bones. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly.

Sarah gives her a kind smile. “This is _not_ your fault, Ari. Just…if it ever happens again, let us know, okay?”

Ari nods. “Yeah, okay.”

“Like I’m ever gonna let it get that far again,” Sideswipe says with a snort.

Sunny drapes an arm across his brother’s shoulders with a mischievous smirk. “Yeah, we all know you would never let anything happen to your femme.”

A blush spreads across Sideswipe’s cheeks as he tries to come up with an intelligible response but fails. Ari looks between the twins in confusion but before she can ask Sarah just laughs and pats Sideswipe’s shoulder in sympathy. “It’s okay, Sideswipe. It’s okay.” And then she walks off to lead them to the store she has in mind.

As Ari fall in line behind her she asks Sideswipe, “What was that about?”

Sideswipe sighs deeply, the blush starting to slowly slip away. “I don’t know, but Sunny’s been making a lot of jokes like that lately. It’s fagging annoying especially since I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

Ari doesn’t have a clue either but decides to drop the conversation since it obviously makes Sideswipe uncomfortable. She is intrigued, though, and wonders what Sunny is trying to get at.

_His femme. Huh._

Sarah leads them to a store called Rue 21 and motions for Ari to have at it while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker just take up places near the door. Tentatively she starts looking through the clothes on the racks, starting with the sales section. Will told her she can spend as much as she wants before he left for Hoover Dam again to help out with picking the location for the new Autobot base, but she’s still nervous about spending too much.

Sarah is having none of that though. She goes right over to the wall where the normally-priced clothes hang, flips through for a few minutes, and then holds up a shirt for Ari to inspect. “How about this?”

Ari glances at it only briefly and then says, “Nah, I don’t like it.”

“Oh, come on, Ari,” Sarah says with slight exasperation. “You’re not just saying that because it isn’t on sale, are you? You don’t have to limit yourself like that.”

Rubbing at her neck nervously Ari responds, “Yeah, that’s kind of why, but only partially. I’m used to going to places like Goodwill to get clothes.”

Pain and sadness flashes through Sarah’s eyes and she reaches out a hand to touch Ari. Before she touches Ari’s arm she remembers and lets her hand fall with a sad sigh. “Oh how I _wish_ we had found you sooner, sweetie.”

Ari gives her a small half-smile. “Yeah, me too.”

“So, since you know you _don’t_ have to limit yourself,” Sarah holds up the shirt again, “what do you think?”

“Honestly, I really don’t like it,” Ari says with a shrug.

“Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, I don’t like the color.”

“What, you don’t like _pink_?”

Ari crinkles her nose in disgust. “Not even remotely.”

“A girl who doesn’t like pink,” Sarah says with a laugh.

“What can I say, I’m a blue kind of girl.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. What was the other reason you don’t like it?”

“The sleeves are…short.” Ari rubs her hands along the long sleeves she already wears.

“Ari, you live in Nevada. You need something with shorter sleeves or else you’ll die of heat stroke. Especially with summer starting.”

Ari sighs. She knows there is the possibility of getting overheated if she always wears warm clothes. Even now, indoors with air conditioning, she’s feeling rather warm. And since it’s summer it’s going to be very hard to even find any long-sleeved shirts, but…

“I don’t,” Ari bites her lip nervously, staring down at her wringing hands, “If I wear short sleeves, then everyone will see.”

“See what?” Sarah asks.

“My scars,” Ari whispers.

Sideswipe walks up beside her to stand close enough so she can feel the heat of his spark. “Ari,” he says quietly, “you don’t have to hide your scars. They’re nothing to be ashamed of.”

“But if I don’t, then everyone will see. And then they’ll know. They’ll know how I got them. Or if they don’t, then they’ll ask questions until they do.”

“Ari, the people who are important already know and have already seen. Everyone else doesn’t matter. And if they have a problem or something, then they can just shove it up their afts.”

Ari gives a halfhearted laugh. “Even still, they’ll think they’re…ugly.”

“Look at me,” Sideswipe implores. When Ari doesn’t he places a finger lightly under her chin and guides it up so she’s forced to look him in the eye. He leaves the finger there, ghosting over her skin, and a shiver runs down her spine.

But she doesn’t think it’s from any kind of fear.

“They’re not ugly,” Sideswipe tells her firmly. “They’re not. _You’re_ not. You’re beautiful, Ari, both inside and out. And anyone who says any differently can also shove it up their afts. I’ll even help them.”

Ari’s chest clenches desperately. Hopefully. “No one’s ever called me beautiful before.”

He smiles softly down at her. “Well, you are.”

She smiles back. “Thank you.”

They stare at each other for an indiscernible amount of time, Sideswipe’s finger running along her jaw leaving a trail of fiery warmth that makes Ari’s toes curl. But again, she doesn’t feel fear from the touch. She doesn’t feel uncomfortable. Instead it sends her heart fluttering in a way she’s never felt before.

And then Sunstreaker clears his throat very loudly. Sideswipe instantly drops his hand, surprised he had still been touching her and that she had let him.

“Alright, you two, break it up,” Sunny says loudly from where he still stands by the door. “I do want to get out of here sometime today. How long does stuff like this normally last?”

“A couple of hours,” Sarah says, apparently having already moved on to continue looking through clothes with several articles hanging from an arm.

“ _Hours_?” Sunstreaker groans. “Why is it femmes always spend so much time on how they look?”

“Uh, Sunny,” Sideswipe says as he walks back to stand next to his brother again. “Exactly how long was it that you spent picking out an alt mode?”

Sunstreaker has nothing to say to that and looks away with a huff.

Ari laughs and then goes back to looking at clothes, this time not limiting herself to only the sales section. Or only long sleeves. After Sideswipe’s words…she wants to know how he’ll think of her if she wears shorter sleeves or prettier clothes in general. But, hours later, when Ari is in the mall bathroom changing into one of her new outfits at Sarah’s insistence, Ari starts to second-guess herself again as she strips her old, ratty clothes away revealing her pale skin marred with scars.

How can anyone see such a thing as beautiful?

When she’s done she shoves her old clothes and shoes in the shopping bag and steps out of the stall. Ari stares at the girl in the mirror above one of the sinks. At the new pair of jeans, the new Converse sneakers, the new, light gray, V-neck shirt with a blue tank underneath. And the new blue zipper hoodie she wears on top. She sighs. She couldn’t help it. As soon as she reached for the handle with nothing covering her arms she started freaking out and had to go for her new jacket. Bare arms, they just felt so weird even though that’s how she goes to bed. Still, she almost never leaves her room without covering up beforehand.

When a women moves in front of her to use the sink Ari snaps out of it and exits the women’s bathroom to go join the others. They stand right outside and she glances at each of them nervously, trying to gage their thoughts on her new attire.

“So,” she says, holding out an arm to her side, “how do I look?”

“Alright for a human femme, I guess,” Sunstreaker replies.

Sarah scoffs at him. “Nonsense, Sunstreaker. I think she looks lovely. You’re right, blue does look very good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

Ari blushes. “Thanks.”

And then she stares at the one person whose opinion matters more to her than any other. As soon as that thought enters her mind it shocks her. Why does she care so much how Sideswipe thinks of how she looks? She’s never cared before. But as she waits for his opinion and all he does is squint at her with a critical eye, it seems to be the most important thing to her right now.

Sideswipe hums lowly to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Nope, I don’t like it.”

Ari’s face falls slightly though she tries to stop it. “W-why?”

He steps closer to her, takes the shopping back from her hand, sets it on the ground, and then moves behind her. Carefully, he takes the edges of her jacket and starts to lift it off her shoulders. “This needs to go.”

She looks back at him worriedly. “But, Sides….”

“It’ll be okay, Ari,” he says, slipping the hoodie down her arms. “No one is going to look at you funny. And if they do and it really bothers you I’ll give it back. Just try it this once, at least until we leave the mall. Then, if it was too awkward for you, you can keep covering yourself up whenever you want and I won’t say anything. Promise.”

Once the jacket is off he slips it inside her shopping bag and picks up the bag to carry himself. Ari looks back at him, chewing on her lip and trying to pointlessly cover her arms with each other. She feels so exposed like this, but she has to admit, it feels nice not to have the extra layer of clothing on.

“Alright,” she says finally. “I’ll try it. Just this once.”

Sideswipe smiles triumphantly. “Good. So, where to next?”

“Someplace I’m sure Ari will love,” Sarah says with a smile and she leads them back out into the mall with Ari in the center of their group like before.

Tension runs all along Ari’s limbs, causing them to lock up and making it hard to walk. The only thing keeping her going is Sideswipe’s arm at her back. Her eyes fly from person to person they pass, studying their faces. A lot of them just pass by not even sparing a glance for her. But the ones who do look back, they look at her with…indifference. They don’t notice anything. Except maybe her deer-in-the-headlights look, but as Ari starts to relax the further they walk she can tell that the people they pass don’t notice her scars. Or if they do they pay them no mind. Cool relief flows through her and her muscles ease up. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

When Sarah turns to take them into a store Ari finally notices where she has been leading them to: Books-A-Million. Ari grins from ear to ear and takes off into the book stacks ahead of the others, no longer worrying herself over other people. Thousands upon thousands of books surround her, more books than she’s seen in years. Certainly more books than what her school library holds. She takes her time strolling down aisle after aisle until she finds one that interests her, the teen fiction section. Here, she spends even more time allowing her eyes to meander down every book spine, stopping occasionally on a title that interests her, and, if it piques her interest, she picks the book off the shelf to examine further. It’s been a long time since she’s held a brand new book in her hands. She cracks open the untouched book and breathes in the new-book smell that she finds just divine.

Ari loses track of time as she loses herself among the books. The first ones she picks out to buy are the next two books she’s missing in the Maximum Ride series. As soon as she touches them she never wants to let go. She’s had only the first book for years now wishing she could continue the series but always afraid Ron would catch her trying to bring the books into the house and destroy them. Now she has nothing to fear. Now she can buy as many books as she wants.

She tells herself she can only buy a few. Her definition of “a few” may be becoming a bit skewed the longer she stays in the bookstore though.

Ari’s not sure how long it’s been since entering the store, but eventually Sideswipe interrupts her browsing. “You got enough books there?” he asks, leaning casually against the bookcase next to her with folded arms.

She looks down at the seven books she carries. “Honestly, this is probably more than what I should buy, but I guess I should count myself lucky I was able to contain myself this much. I swear I would be buying thirty books if I could but I’m trying to budget my money.”

Sideswipe laughs. “Well, come on, Bookworm, we need to get going. Will called Sarah saying he’s headed home already so we should start heading that way, too.”

Shuffling the books around becomes a bit of a task as Ari tries to get at her wallet in her back pocket while heading to the cash register. She almost drops them when Sideswipe comes to her rescue.

“Give me those,” he says, grabbing all of the books in his much larger arms.

Ari smiles at him gratefully. “Carrying books for a lady, how gentlemanly of you.”

“I’m not a gentleman.” He gives her a devilish smile. “I’m the bad boy.”

“A bad boy with a sweet side.”

“Shhh, don’t tell anyone,” he mock-whispers. “You’ll ruin my reputation.”

“I promise I won’t tell, but thank you anyway,” she says with a laugh and then it’s their turn at the register.

Sideswipe hoists the books onto the counter and the elderly women who is their cashier scans each book. When Ari hands over her debit card to pay for them the women’s eyes are obviously drawn to Ari’s outstretched arm and the few scars that are visible. The happy mood she was in suddenly vanishes as she freezes, thinking the woman is going to say something, but she just swipes Ari’s card, thanks her for her purchases, and tells her to have a nice day with a small smile.

Ari smiles back and tells her to have a nice day.

It’s certainly a nice day for her.

“See,” Sideswipe says as they join Sunstreaker and Sarah at the entrance to the store. “I told you everything would be fine.”

Ari laughs, feeling tension melt from her muscles she didn’t even realize was there. “Yeah, I guess leaving my arms bare isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Does this mean you won’t be needing your jacket back?”

“You better give me my jacket back,” she says, playfully swinging her bag of books at him. “It’s brand new.”

Sunstreaker shakes his head at them and mutters to himself, “Those two are so dense.”

Sarah chuckles, having been the only one to hear him. “You’re quite right.”

During the trip back to the ranch the day’s events finally catch up to Ari. She’s been on her feet for the better part of five hours now, a lot of that time also spent in varying levels of anxiety. The thought of collapsing in her bed sounds absolutely wonderful, but when Sideswipe pulls up into the yard to park next to a familiar black truck a bit of life comes back. Will is just stepping down from Ironhide’s interior when they pull up.

Ari gets out of Sideswipe’s interior with a huge grin. “Ironhide! I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

All three bots transform and Ironhide kneels down to be closer to her. “It’s good to see you as well, Ari.”

“Hey, hey,” Will says, pretending to be hurt with a puppy dog face. “Aren’t you going to say hi to me?”

Sarah walks over to him and gives him a quick kiss. “Hello.”

Will hums happily, placing his hands on his wife’s hips. “I could get used to hellos like that.”

“Sorry, Will, but I’m not kissing you,” Ari says with a laugh.

“That’s alright,” Sarah says. “I don’t like to share anyway.” She gives her husband another kiss and then pulls away. “So, what do you think of Ari’s new outfit?”

Will looks over Ari’s new clothes and she starts to shift from foot to foot, feeling self-conscious. She can almost feel it when his eyes glide over her scarred arms. He smiles and nods approvingly. “I like it. You look good, Ari.”

“Thanks,” she says with a blush and then shifts the conversation elsewhere. “So, Ironhide, how are things back at base? Are negotiations going good?”

“Yes, they are. The Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty is just about finished. Today we discussed the location of the future base.”

“Wow. That’s quite the name.”

“Yeah,” Will agrees. “And they’re planning on naming the task force after it, though it’ll be an acronym. NEST.”

Ari laughs. “What is it about the US government and acronyms?”

“Don’t know but at least it’s easy to remember this way.”

“So where is the base going to be?”

“There is a base already in existence in this state that we will be taking over,” Ironhide says. “It hasn’t been in use in over a vorn. Apparently something happened in a city called Roswell involving extraterrestrials that compromised the base’s existence. The base was then abandoned and its operations moved to the Sector Seven base beneath Hoover Dam.”

Ari’s eyebrows fly upward. “Wait, wait, wait. Hold up a second. Are you talking about Area 51?”

Ironhide nods. “Yes, I believe that was its name.”

Ari’s jaw drops and she can see Sarah’s eyes going wide as well. “And that base is here in Nevada? How far away?”

“Not far. Only a few Earth hours.”

Holy frag. Area 51 really exists. Or at least, it used to. And she’ll be seeing the old base sometime in the near future. That’s just…holy frag.

Ari lets out an incredulous laugh. “You know, one of these days I’m not going to be surprised by _anything_ anymore.”

“I don’t know about that,” Will says. “I still got a surprise of my own. Or at least, Sarah does. Did you get it, honey?”

Sarah shakes herself out of her own shocked daze and nods. “Yeah, I got it. She was preoccupied in the bookstore and didn’t even notice.”

Ari looks between the two as Sarah goes over to Sideswipe to get their bags from his trunk space. There are quite a few of them and Will instantly goes over to help. Sarah digs through them, looking for something, and when she finds it she gives a triumphant “Ah ha!” She pulls out a small T-Mobile bag and hands it proudly over to Ari.

“What is this?” Ari asks incredulously. She opens the bag and pulls out a small box. Inside is a brand new cell phone. She just holds it, completely dumbfounded. She hasn’t needed a phone in days, though it’s not like she had one to use even if she wanted to. She lost it sometime between getting kidnapped by S7 and the Mission City battle. Getting a new one never even occurred to her and now Will and Sarah are giving her one out of their own pocket. She shakes her head. “You guys didn’t have to do this. I could have bought one myself.”

“Yeah, but if we let you do that, then you would have insisted on paying for the plan all by yourself,” Will says. “And I didn’t want you to do that.”

“But I-”

“No buts. You’re not paying us for the phone or any phone bills. You have talk, text, and data. We trust you to use what you got wisely but if you go over, then, and _only then_ , do you have to pay us the balance. Deal?”

Ari strokes the sleek black devise in her hand. She’s just so overwhelmed by the kindness of these two wonderful people. She can feel herself wanting to cry but she pushes it down. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“I also have a gift for you, Ari,” Ironhide says. She looks up at him curiously as he reaches into a compartment on his arm and gently takes something out with his thumb and forefinger. He carefully places the small object on his open palm and lowers his hand to her. “This is from Ratchet. It is the device that will protect your AllSpark signature from being detected.”

In his hand rests a necklace. She picks it up by the silver chain. On the end of it dangles a red pendant about two inches in size, the Autobot insignia. “How did Ratchet manage to make something so small?”

“He used his holoform, though I agree it is certainly a small device considering all it does.”

“Can it do more than just hide my signature?”

“Flip it over to the back.” Ari does as she’s told. On the back are three small buttons slightly raised, a red one on top, a yellow one in the middle, and a black one on the bottom. “The red and yellow buttons are emergency alarms. The red one means you need Autobot assistance immediately and any Autobots within a ten mile radius will get the distress signal. The yellow one means you are in trouble but Autobot help may not be the best approach, human and holoform being more advisable. The black one will connect you to the General Comm Link. There is a small speaker and microphone on the pendant that will allow you to communicate to us, all you have to do is hold the button down to talk.”

“Wow, you’re right. It does do a lot for such a small little thing.” Ari puts the pendant on, clasping it around her neck. The length of the chain allows the pendant to rest lightly against her sternum. “Tell Ratchet thank you for me. Hopefully I won’t ever need such precautions, but his thoughtfulness is sweet.”

Ironhide stands. “You are welcome, Ari. You are very important to us since you now hold the power of the AllSpark, but you are far more precious to us as our friend. Never forget that.”

Ari smiles warmly. “Take care, Ironhide.”

Everyone bids Ironhide farewell and then they all head inside, holoforms included, to enjoy a quite night at home among family and friends.

_Today turned out to be a lot of fun after all._

* * *

Barricade growls internally as he speeds down the deserted road, dry grasslands spreading monotonously everywhere he looks. This is such a boring planet. He can’t wait to see it all burn.

But in the meantime he is to watch the Witwicky girl. He had been on his way to her known location, having followed the oblivious Ironhide a good distance from behind to her current place of residence, but then his scanners picked up on something odd. An AllSpark signature. But it can’t possibly be. He had not been there himself, but Starscream had told him he saw the human girl use the AllSpark to destroy Megatron’s spark, effectively destroying the Cube as well. But his scanners don’t lie. They may be recently repaired, but this can’t be anything else.

He continues on his way, pushing his alt mode to its limits in order to find the source, but soon it disappears. Frustration courses through his circuits. It had been so close, no farther than three miles away, but it just…disappeared. There one minute, gone the next.

And for some reason very close to the girl’s location.

He’d better report this to _Lord_ Starscream. The would-be leader will want to know of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	18. That Way Be Dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy frag, it's almost been two months since my last update. I am so sorry. That new fic is still holding my brain hostage. It's for Jurassic World, an amazing movie if any of you haven't watched it, and I've already gotten, like, ten chapters written already. Haven't posted it yet, I probably won't until it's done. Not something I do too often but with this one I keep changing things so I think I'll play it safe and just wait.
> 
> Anyway, for this fic, this chapter gave me all sorts of trouble. But I loved how it turned out. Hopefully you do, too. ;)
> 
> Now, go onward and enjoy!

"No, Sideswipe," Ari says adamantly.

"Oh, come on, Ari," Sides insists, his voice coming from the radio of his alt mode. “All you've been doing for weeks is working at that diner. You need to relax and have some fun."

She shakes her head tiredly as she stares out the window at Tranquility passing by, the city lights illuminating the night. She's just gotten off of work and they are heading home.

_Home. A home I'm not afraid of going back to._

"I'm never going to afford college," she says, "if I don't work hard and earn money. I plan on paying for it as much as possible.  The less of a burden I am to Will and Sarah the better."

"You're not a burden to them. They've said it a thousand times."

"I know. But if I can do anything to make all of this easier for them, then I'm going to do it."

"By working long hours and not having any free time?"

"I have free time. Every night you, Sunstreaker, and I stargaze before I go to bed."

He sighs, exasperation saturating the air blowing through the vents. "That doesn't count. You need more than that or you're going to collapse with exhaustion. And if that happens Ratchet will rewire my processor until I’m reduced to a sparkling and Ironhide will kick my aft all the way back to Cybertron."

"I'll be fine, Sides," she says, rolling her eyes. "You just worry too much."

"What about when school starts?"

"Then I'll go to school, head to work, and go home to do homework, just like I did before."

"Are you going to be cutting back on your hours?"

Ari crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Not any more than I absolutely have to."

Sideswipe skids suddenly, going off road with a jolt that has Ari scrabbling for the handle above her door. He drives up to a familiar cliff with a familiar, solitary tree. When he comes to a jerking halt her seatbelt retracts and the driver's door opens, a silent sign for her to get out. She does, walking towards the edge of the cliff as Sideswipe transforms into his bipedal mode behind her. Her shoulders tense because she knows he’s mad at her and anger has never led her to anything good.

"What's wrong, Ari?" Sides asks quietly, the tinge of sadness and desperation in his voice surprising her.  There’s a light rumble in the ground she feels through the soles of her shoes.  She turns to see that he’s now sitting cross-legged on the ground.  “Why are you pushing yourself so hard when you don’t have to?”

A deep frustration grows within Ari and she turns back to stare out at the night.  It’s a frustration she’s felt for weeks now that she’s been unable to completely deal with on her own.  So she’s immersed herself in work, taking as many shifts as possible.  But still she cannot escape the tightness in her chest or the strong urge to cry.  She wants to explain it to Sides, she really does.  She just doesn’t know how.

Warm metal touches her shoulder lightly, the bar of Sideswipe’s finger bringing her comfort that momentarily quenches the helplessness.  “Ari,” he says softly.  Pleadingly.  “Talk to me.”

She breathes a deep sigh, wrapping her arms around herself.  “I…I thought it would be easy, you know?  Once I got away from him.  But it’s not…It’s not.”

“What’s not?”

“Moving on with my life.  With Ron gone, I thought everything would be so simple, that I would be able to just embrace my new freedom with everything I have, but I can’t.”

“Why not, Ari?  There’s nothing stopping you.”

“But there is.  It’s,” she licks her lips, tightening her grip on herself.  “Look, I’ve lived one way for so long.  With the fear.  With being told ‘no’ all the time.  With not having a life of my own.  And now, now that I have a chance for something…more, I just,” the frustration begins to burn in her chest again.  “I don’t….”

“Don’t what?”

“I don’t know how to move on!” Ari explodes.  She turns around, looking up at him, eyes brimming with tears.  Her voice is shaky now.  Weak.  But she pushes it all down.  She doesn’t want to be weak anymore.  “Every night, as I lay in bed, I’m afraid that I’ll go to sleep and when I wake up I’ll be back with him.  That this last month never happened.  That I never got away.  That I never met you…And that’s what I dream about.  That I’m back with him on his bed and I’m-,” her throat closes up before she can say more.  Though it’s not like she has to.  She swallows around the lump in her throat and then continues.  “My dreams and reality blur sometimes.  It’s on those mornings that I climb out on the roof and watch the sunrise.  I convince myself that this is real, that all of this is real, and I think about how to make the nightmares go away.  It should be so simple, shouldn’t it?  To just lock the memories in the back of my mind and move on from them.  Like how I keep the knowledge the AllSpark has given me locked up.  But it doesn’t work and I feel trapped and I don’t know what to do so I just….”

“So you’ve just buried yourself in work to the point of exhaustion?” Sideswipe finishes for her and she nods.  Sighing, Sideswipe folds himself back down into his alt mode and activates his holoform, stepping close to Ari until he is right next to her.  “You have started to move on, Ari.  This is proof.”  He holds out his hand to her, palm up.  She looks at him questioningly.  “Take it.”

“Sideswipe, I don’t-”

“Take it.  I know you can.”  He stretches his hand out further, urging her to take it.

Ari glances at his hand, worry tensing her muscles, but she reaches out her hand to take Sideswipe’s.  His large hand engulfs hers, calloused fingers enwrapping her in warmth.  Ari just keeps her eyes trained on their joined hands as Sideswipe strokes his thumb along her skin.  The fear and panic, it doesn’t come.  She can hold Sideswipe’s hand and she’s still okay.

“You’ve come so far,” Sideswipe says.  “You’ve gotten so much better.  Remember, back at your parental unit’s trial?  You weren’t able to do this for more than a few seconds.  Now look at you.  You feel fine, don’t you?”

Ari nods her head again.  Yes, she does feel fine.  She feels Sideswipe right now, not the ghost of her father’s presence. 

“Then you’ve already started to move on.”

She grips his hand tighter.  “But what about everything else?  I can’t-”

“That’s right, you really can’t.”  He grips her hand in both of his.  “Not alone.  Just like you aren’t doing this alone.  There are people here who want to help you.  Let them.”

Ari raises her other hand to cover Sideswipe’s in their bunch of limbs.  She strokes her own thumb along his knuckles, closing her eyes, imagining what it would be like to be one hundred percent better.  To not have so much weight holding her down anymore.  She feels like she’s drowning in the murky waters of the sea, unable to see anything, and the torrential waves keeping her from rising to the surface.

Perhaps all she really does need is a helping hand.

“Okay,” she whispers.

A massive grin spreads across Sideswipe’s face.  “Really?”

She smiles softly back.  “Yeah.”

“So no more crazy hours at the diner?  You’ll actually spend some down time and relax?”

“Yeah, I will.”

He extracts one of his hands to stroke his thumb along her jaw.  It’s become such a familiar touch in the past month, she knows the fiery trail by heart now.  And it still makes her toes curl.

“And next time you have a nightmare,” Sideswipe says, his blue eyes boring into hers, “you’ll come to me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now come on.  We got a big day tomorrow.”  Sideswipe tugs at her hand leading her back to his alt mode.

She pulls back a little, nervous about the next day’s events.  “But Sideswipe, does it really have to be swimming?  Can’t we do something else to relax?”

The holoform dissipates as she climbs into his alt mode.  “Of course it does,” Sideswipe says, his voice now coming from the radio again.  “Sarah said she wanted to go out to the lake on the property and have, what did she call it?  A family picnic?  Yeah, that, and she said swimming was really fun.  So why not?”

Ari looks down at her hands in her lap and says quietly, “I don’t know how to swim.”

* * *

The next morning, Sarah knocks on Ari’s bedroom door.  “Ari,” she says loudly so as to be heard through the thick wood.  “Come on, we’re burning daylight.  I’ve got bags of food asking to be eaten, and a lake waiting to be swam in.”

Ari’s muffled voice filters out into the hallway, “No, I’m not wearing this thing!”

“But you’re the one who approved of it when we went shopping.”

“I didn’t approve, I just gave in.  I never thought I’d actually have to wear it around people.”

Sarah scoffs and looks to her husband who stands beside her.  “I don’t think she’s budging.  Got any ideas?”

Will thinks on it for a second and then says, “Ari, if you don’t come out of there I’m gonna go get Sideswipe.  He’ll have no problem just materializing his holoform in there with you.  And he’ll drag your aft out of there if he has to.  You know he will."

Suddenly the door flies open, Ari standing in the doorway with an ecstatic grin.  "Ha!  You said 'aft.'  The Cybertronian curse words are spreading!"

Will thinks over what he just said and then bursts into laughter.  "You're right.  Guess we've been spending so much time around the Autobots it's kind of rubbed off."

"I blame Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.  You're probably Ironhide.  I've noticed he's got quite the mouth, too."

"So," Sarah interjects with a wide grin, "you all ready to go?"

Ari opens her mouth to say something and then snaps it shut again, realizing they managed to lure her out of her room.  She looks down at herself and at the swimsuit she wears.

When Sarah forced her into choosing a swimsuit when they went shopping she picked something out that would cover as much skin as possible.  She had wanted to get swim trunks for the bottom but Sarah instantly vetoed that, so she went with a bottom with an attached skirt in a solid black that reaches down to mid-thigh.  For the top, Sarah tried to convince her to get a bikini top.  No fragging way that was ever going to happen though.  She picked out a light blue tankini halter top that matches her eyes.  The halter top makes her chest look bigger, adding to her self-consciousness, but she actually kind of likes that, for once, she doesn’t look so flat.  It also emphasizes the curves she’s starting to get now that she’s eating properly.  But what she cared about most when picking something out was that it had to cover her stomach.

The scars on her stomach, where “unwanted” is plainly written out, she never wants anyone to see.  Sideswipe has helped her to become more comfortable wearing short sleeves and even the occasional pair of shorts, but these particular scars she will probably never be okay with.

"You look fine," Will says wearing a pair of swim trunks with a green t-shirt.  "Now let's go or else I really will go get Sides."

Will then heads downstairs, Sarah following behind him with a laugh and wearing a black one-piece suit with a white sarong around her waist.  Sighing, Ari trudges downstairs as well, her sandals flopping with every step.

She hesitates on the porch by hiding behind one of the supporting posts, clinging to it like a lifeline, while Will and Sarah greet Sideswipe and Sunstreaker in their bipedal forms.  Annabelle squirms impatiently in her mother’s arms in a cute little pink swimsuit with a purple ruffled skirt.  Ari looks down at her own suit self-consciously again.  She doesn't know why she's stressing over this so much.  They've all seen her scars plenty of times now.  This shouldn't bother her so much. 

But when her eyes connect with Sideswipe's optics her stomach roils and coils like a snake nest.

"Morning, Ari," Sideswipe says cheerfully.  He rolls over to her and kneels down.  “So, you ready to have some fun?”

Ari grips the post slightly tighter.  She’s not really sure if she’s ready for this.  It’s not something she’s ever done before, or, at least, not in a very long time.  Hung out with friends.  She would have been just a kindergartner, maybe first grade, the last time she had any real friends.  Those memories are kind of fuzzy now.  The closest thing she’s ever done to “fun” in the past ten years was read.  Now, she’s not quite sure what to do or how to take the first step.

Sideswipe solves the problem for her by plucking her off the porch and deposits her on his shoulder.  She steadies herself with a hand placed on top of his head, quickly bends down to grab her sandals before they fall off her feet, and gives him an indignant look.

“What?” he says with a lopsided grin.  “You were taking too long.”

She shoves the side of his head playfully.  “Uh huh, I’ll be ready when I’m good and ready, not a moment sooner.”

“You’ll never be ready if you over-think it so much.”  He looks at her with earnest optics.  “Just be yourself and lose yourself in the moment.”

“You mean carpe diem?”

His optics dim as he looks up the Latin term on the internet.  When he’s done he grins at her.  “Yeah.  Seize the day.  Exactly.  So what do you say?  Ready to seize this day?”

“That rhymed,” she says with a laugh.

Sideswipe rolls his optics.  “Not the point.”

She slides over so that she is leaning against the side of his head.  “Yeah, I’m ready.  Let’s go.”

“Actually,” Sunstreaker says as he rolls closer, “we still have to wait.”

Ari’s brow furrows.  “On what?  We’re all here and ready to go.”

“Not everyone.”

A loud horn from a large sounding truck reverberates through the air and Ari turns her head to look at the thin strip of road in the distance.  Turning onto the property is a large black truck, a fancy silver car, a rescue vehicle, and a blue semi with red flames.

Ari’s grin splits her face as she swings her feet in the air excitedly, her bare heels knocking against Sideswipe’s shoulder.  “Why didn’t you tell me the others were coming?”

“We wanted it to be a surprise,” Sideswipe says.

The four vehicles come to a halt and transform.

Optimus steps closer to her and Sideswipe.  "Hello, everyone, I hope you are doing well?"

Ari nods with a kind smile.  "Yeah, I'm good.  I've missed you guys though.  I feel like I haven't seen you all in ages."

"It's the World Security Council," Jazz says.  "They keep wantin’ meetin’ after meetin’."

"What about?" Will asks from the ground.

"They keep wanting us to share our technology," Ironhide says in a low growl.  "Primarily our weapons.  The humans have become bolder especially since the Council has started to send a single human to represent them.  He has no qualms in expressing what he wants and unfortunately is not as intimidated by us as the Council first was.”

“You guys haven’t been talking directly to the Council anymore?”

“We have not,” Optimus says.  “The World Security Council believes it best if someone were to represent them in person since, for their safety, they cannot travel here themselves.  And N.E.S.T. is not their only priority.  They have other pressing matters they need to attend to.  Apparently there was an incident in California recently involving a Mr. Stark that they are none too pleased with and needed their attention.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Sarah says as she hitches Annabelle higher on her hip.  “It was on the news.  Tony Stark is this big time inventor.  Really rich.  Something happened out at his company.  At first they were saying there was a malfunction with one of their inventions or something and a bodyguard in a suit of armor stopped it from causing too much damage.  They were calling him Iron Man.  And then Mr. Stark gets in front of the cameras and says _he’s_ Iron Man.”

“So, what,” Ari says, “are we talking knight in shining armor or…?”

“No, the way I heard it, it was more like a smaller version of a Cybertronian except with a human inside it.”

Ironhide raises an optic ridge.  “Sounds to me like their weapons are plenty advanced enough.”

“The World Security Council and S.H.I.E.L.D. do not think so,” Optimus says.

“Who’s S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Will asks.

“The organization the World Security Council mainly oversees.  Their full name is Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

Ari laughs.  “So they finally realized they could use another acronym.  And this one actually spells out something, like N.E.S.T.”

“But we’re still not going to give them what they want, right Optimus?” Sideswipe asks.  “It would be too dangerous.”

Optimus shakes his head.  “No, we are not.  We will share any technology with them so long as it is not weapons.  That, humans must never have.  It will cause more harm than good no matter what the Council Representative likes to think.”

Ari sighs.  She knows it’s not going to be that simple.  Once humans set their minds to something, they can be pretty stubborn.  This Council guy sounds especially so since he’s willing to stand up to the Autobots despite the fact that any one of them could crush him with a flick of a finger.  But governments can be greedy and the prospect of having more advanced weapons than anyone else on the planet is just too tempting.  But there’s no telling how much more death and destruction could be caused in a single war if humans get a hold of Cybertronian weapons.  Optimus is right, it can’t happen, but can the Autobots keep the Council’s demands back forever?  Ari knows full well how manipulative humans can be.  If there is a way, it will be found. 

Valid thoughts, but she doesn’t voice them.  Instead she says, “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now.  Whatever happens, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”

The building tension suddenly releases from the group like a breath of fresh air after being underwater too long.  Optimus smiles at her and says, “Ari is right.  For now, let us relax and enjoy the present company.  Autobots, roll out.”

At Optimus’s command all of the Autobots transform back into their alt modes, Sideswipe transforming himself around Ari so she ends up in his driver’s seat and Ironhide opens his doors so Will, Sarah, and Annabelle can get into his cab.  With everyone ready to go, they head on out to the lake.

The lake is about a quarter mile into the property, well away from where the cattle are now and less likely to smell of manure.  It is relatively small, Optimus could walk around its circumference once in a few quick strides, but it is plenty deep enough for swimming and even has a dock with a row boat for fishing or just a lazy trip out on the water.  And the water is beautiful, a deep blue the color of the Autobots’ optics and the surface is calm and still, mirroring the slightly clouded sky above.

It’s the perfect place to lay back and unwind.  And all of them need it in some way.  The Autobots, because of the Council and also because they’ve been lending a hand in the refurbishing of the new base which is now almost done.  Will, Sarah, and Annabelle, so they can enjoy some family time together before Will has to start his position as the head of N.E.S.T.  And Ari, because she’s been overworking herself and Sideswipe is determined to get her to relax and have fun, especially with school starting in a couple of weeks.  And he’s determined to teach her how to swim.  Even though, technically, he doesn’t know how to swim either.

Sideswipe opens his door for her.  “So, you ready to swim?”

“Not really,” Ari admits.  “You sure you can teach me?”

“Of course.  I looked it up on the internet and it seems easy enough.”

Famous last words before something horrible happens.

Still, Ari gets out and one by one the Autobots’ holoforms materialize.  All of the mechs take after Will’s example by wearing swim trunks and a T-shirt.  Except for the twins.  They forgo the shirt.  Ari can feel a blush crawling along her face and down her neck when Sideswipe’s holoform appears right beside her, bare-chested.  Sideswipe isn’t as huge as Ironhide, but his arms and chest, though lean, are all muscle with only the faintest sprinkling of dark hair.  There is no denying the strength beneath that smooth, slightly tanned skin.  And Ari has to force herself to look away before Sideswipe realizes she is ogling him.  She glances at Sunstreaker who looks exactly like his brother except his hair is slicked back on his head instead of floating in the breeze.  But looking at him does not make her cheeks heat up or sets her stomach fluttering.  They’re twins, they’ve made their holoforms practically exact replicas of each other, but she….

“You alright, Ari?” Sarah asks, concern in her eyes, as she and Will set up an inflatable wade pool for Annabelle to play in.  “You look kind of red.  You’re not getting a sunburn already, are you?”

Will snorts.  “I wouldn’t be surprised, considering how pale she is.  When’s the last time you spent a decent amount of time outside?”

Ari rubs nervously at the back of her neck trying to will her blush to not get worse.  “The longest I ever had time to spend outside was when Ron made me cut the grass.”

Everyone gets really still, as they tend to do when she mentions something about Ron that they don’t like.  Or just Ron in general.  Eyes darken.  Jaws clench.  She looks down and away from everyone, sorry for having darkened the perfect-day mood.  Ron just seems to keep popping back up in her life even though now he’s in jail.  Even though she is never going to see him again.  He is supposedly firmly in her past, but he keeps digging into her present.  He’ll always be a part of her life.

Something brushes against her hand and she looks at it to see Sideswipe’s fingers brushing against hers.  She laces her fingers with his, their palms pressing together.  She can feel the strength in his grasp, in the way his fingers wrap around hers, the way his thumb strokes back and forth.  It’s not as strong as what she feels from his bipedal form, his real form, proportioned down to fit in this comparably smaller body, but it is still utterly Sideswipe.  A strength that fights to protect her no matter what.  Even from the ghost of Ron. 

He tugs at her gently and she looks up into his face.  He’s wearing that crooked smirk she loves so much.  “Come on,” he says.  “Let’s get some sunscreen on you and have some fun.”

Ari nods mutely as she lets go of his hand and goes over to Sarah’s bag containing the sunscreen.  As she starts applying the lotion spray to her arms she glances at Sideswipe’s form again, now turned away from her so he can talk to his brother.  He glances back at her, flashing her a grin, and she quickly diverts her eyes, bending down to spray her legs.

She’s not sure what’s up with herself lately, but she needs to stop, feeling a warning creep into the back of her mind.

That way be dragons.

Once she’s fully protected from the sun’s rays, she and Sideswipe step into the water.  It’s cold, real cold, despite all of the direct sunlight and the time of year.  The lake bottom is soft beneath her feet, the silt seeping between her toes.  It feels nice and she keeps going until the water is around her shoulders. 

Sideswipe goes further, moving his arms and legs, swimming out in front of her.

 _Fragging alien processor_ , she grumbles.

“Come on,” Sideswipe says, motioning for her to join him.

She shakes her head.  “Sides, I told you, I can’t swim.”

“What do you humans say?  Sometimes you have to run before you can walk?”  He holds out his hands to her.  “Come on, Ari.  Trust me.”

She half-smiles.  “Always.”  With a deep breath Ari pushes out with her toes, stretching to grab at Sideswipe’s hands.  There’s nothing but water under her now, deep enough to where she would be completely submerged if she were to go under.  She starts to panic a little, body tensing, but Sideswipe adjusts his grip, hands moving to grab her upper arms, her arms resting over his, so he can more easily keep her head above water.

“Alright,” he says.  “Now start kicking your legs.”

* * *

They spend a long time in the water, Sideswipe staying very close to her until she gets the hang of swimming.  The entire time he’s next to her, her body feels all tingly, and it’s not the goosebumps from the cold.  Once Ari starts being able to swim on her own the other Autobots join them, all except Sunstreaker who lays out on a towel on the shore sunbathing.

“Hey, Sunny!” Ari calls out to him.  “You know your holoform can’t actually get a tan, right?”

The others laugh while Sunstreaker pointedly ignores them and folds his hands behind his head as a pillow.

After much splashing and laughing Sarah calls them all out to have some lunch.  Or at least Ari anyway, but the others follow, too.  They gather around, the humans eating sandwiches, everyone talking and simply enjoying themselves.  It’s the most relaxing, normal thing Ari has ever done.  And six of them are aliens. 

After lunch Ari offers to watch Annabelle so that Will and Sarah can have a break and go for a swim.  Ari climbs into the wade pool with the little girl picking up a plastic boat and moving it around in the water.  It catches Annabelle’s attention and she grabs at it, picking the toy up in her little hands.  She inspects it for a moment before moving it around in the water herself.  Ari smiles.  Annabelle is so adorable, such a curious little mind already.  Ari can tell the little girl is going to be a handful when she starts walking.  A big yawn suddenly escapes the child’s mouth and she rubs at her eyes tiredly.

Ari smiles softly.  “Aw, what’s the matter, little one?  Have you worn yourself out?”

Annabelle’s hands fall onto Ari’s knees and she makes a grabbing motion with her chubby fingers.  She wants to be picked up.  Ari hesitates, unsure what to do.  If she’ll even be able to.  But she tucks her uncertainty away and takes the child into her arms.  Ari carefully cradles her close with her head over Ari’s heart.  Annabelle yawns again and closes her eyes.  Slowly Ari stands from the wading pool and goes to sit on her towel, reaching over to grab another to wrap around Annabelle’s sleeping body so she doesn’t get cold.  Almost without thinking Ari starts to rock her back and forth.

The sound of metal shifting causes Ari to look up.  Sideswipe is back in his bipedal form and sits down beside her.  “You’re really good at that,” he says.

Ari looks back down at Annabelle’s sleeping form and smiles.  “Yeah, I guess so.  Never thought it would be something I would be good at.  I’m just glad that, you know, I actually _can_ hold her.”

Sideswipe smiles.  “Told you you’re getting better.”  He reaches out a finger to gently stroke the top of Annabelle’s head.  “She’s cute, for a human sparkling.”

“Yeah, she is.” 

Ari looks back up at Sideswipe with his optics still gazing down at Annabelle.  His expression is so soft and he touches Annabelle with only the smallest of touches for him, carefully keeping his massive strength back.  He’s like a gentle giant and it captivates her.  As she stares at Sideswipe Ari starts to feel her stomach go all funny again.  She quickly looks away.

_Dragons, Ari.  Dragons._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *happy sigh*
> 
> I love fluff, don't you?
> 
> But other than the fluff, we're starting to get a bit further into the Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover aspect of the story. I wanted you to be able to get a sense as to where this fic falls in the MCU and, just in case anyone missed it, right now, the first Iron Man movie just happened, with the fight at Stark Industries and the press conference where Tony outed himself as Iron Man. SHIELD now officially have their name since they had it by the end of that movie too. This "Council Representative" is not part of the MCU though but if anyone can guess who it is, kudos to you.
> 
> Next chapter may come out later this week. It is one of my personal favorites and I bring someone from the MCU directly into the story. This person is the reason why I decided to go all MCU crossover in the first place, besides Ari meeting the Avengers in the sequel of course.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	19. Welcome to the Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, again. Told you I'd get the next one up a lot faster. As I said last chapter, this one is one of my personal favorites so far, simply because of a certain Marvel character I get to introduce. He's the reason this story became more crossover than I originally planned. I just couldn't keep him out of it. He kept popping up as I was planning and I was like, okay, you want to be in this fic more? Fine, go right ahead. I'm certainly not complaining. And I'm sure you won't be either.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari bites nervously at the thumbnail of her right hand. Both excitement and dread flows through her body, filling her with nervous energy and causing her leg to bounce. She’s sitting in the driver’s seat of Sideswipe’s alt mode staring out at the passing Nevada desert, an endless expanse of orange, dusty flatlands, on her way to the new N.E.S.T. base. It’s finally finished with the first of the N.E.S.T. recruits coming in today.

And Will wants her to talk to them.

“Why am I doing this again?” Ari asks for what feels like the hundredth time since Will asked her to do this just a few days before.

A deep chuckle comes through Sideswipe’s radio. “It’s really not gonna be that bad, is it? All you have to do is talk to them about how you met us and stuff. Let them know we come in peace and all that so they don’t glitch when they meet us.”

“I know what I need to say, it’s just actually saying it that’s the hard part.”

“Why is it hard?”

Ari runs a hand along the leather steering wheel. She swears she feels Sideswipe shudder slightly but dismisses it. It was probably her imagination. “I don’t like talking in front of crowds,” she mumbles. “I’ve always had a hard time with presentations at school. I get stage fright.”

“Stage fright?”

Right, no stages on Cybertron. “I freeze. I get so nervous that my mind goes blank and words escape me. And I blush like crazy.”

“I see. I think.”

Ari chuckles softly. “Yeah, you’ve probably never had stage fright, have you?”

“Nope. Not really.”

There is a blip of static on the radio, signaling the comm link, and then Sunstreaker’s voice comes through. ::Words are definitely not a problem for Sides. At least, not a lack of them.::

“I imagine you’re not much better, Sunny,” Ari says with a sly smile. “You are twins after all.”

An angry rev roars behind them and Ari laughs, turning around in her seat to look at Sunstreaker driving behind them.

::Squishy, you’re lucky you’re my brother’s charge.::

“Oh, Sunny, when are you going to stop with the empty threats?” she teases. Sunstreaker likes to do this a lot. He calls her names and pretends he doesn’t like her. But she knows it isn’t true and he actually likes her a lot, despite being a human “squishy,” even without Sideswipe’s reassurances. She doesn’t need his bond to tell.

::Who says it’s empty?::

She chuckles and she can feel the hum of amusement from Sideswipe’s spark through the seat. “Let’s just say I’ll only believe it when I see it.”

“You got that right,” Sideswipe agrees. “So is there anything we can do to help you get over this stage fright?”

Ari sighs. “No, not really. I’m just going to have to suck it up and trudge on through.”

::Hey, look. There’s the base.::

In the barren distance an outcropping of buildings come into view surrounded by a high wire fence. Three large planes sit out on the tarmac, the recruits having already arrived. By now they should be situated into their new rooms in a dorm-like building off to the left where the soldiers are to live, two to a room with men and women separated. Ari has heard of some U.S. bases having actual houses in neighborhoods for soldiers and their families to live, but they can’t have that here. Those bases can because there is no threat of an enemy attacking the base at any given time. But for N.E.S.T., there will always be the threat of the Decepticons hanging over them. And the families cannot know of what goes on here. The less they know, the better.

As they approach Ari can see people leaving the dorms walking towards the open hanger, the largest of all the buildings. Sideswipe drives through the gate, a guard post not having been established yet, and heads towards the same hanger causing quite a few heads of the recruits to turn their way in surprise at such a car driving up to a military base.

Inside the hanger the Autobots sit off to the side in their alt modes, trying not to draw attention to themselves, and the recruits gather standing in front of a scaffolding on top of which Will and Rob stand. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker drive up next to the other Autobots and park. The recruits eye Ari curiously when she climbs out of Sideswipe’s alt mode but they mostly ignore her as the crowd gathers at the foot of the scaffold. With a deep breath and a parting smile to the Autobots she leaves them behind and climbs up the latter of the scaffold to join Will and Rob.

“Hey, girl,” Rob says with a wide grin. “Long time no see.”

Ari returns his smile. “Hey, Rob. How have you been?”

“Not bad, not bad. The wife’s been glad to have me home, but now it’s time to get back down to business.”

“And we have a lot to get to,” Will says. “You ready for this?”

Ari grips the rail of the scaffold firmly with one hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be I guess. Is this all of them?”

They look out at the gathered recruits standing at attention in neat rows.

“Yep, this is it. For the first batch anyway. The Council still has people recruiting more soldiers from all over the world. A lot of countries want their own men in on this and honestly, we can use all the people we can get to fight the Decepticons. There’s no telling where they’re all hiding or how many are left. This could very well turn into a worldwide operation.”

She tightens her grip on the rail. Fifty. Fifty men and women she’s going to have to talk to. How is she supposed to do this? Already she can feel herself clamming up.

“You alright, kid?” Will asks, his head tilted to the side so he can look her in the eye.

She tries to give him a smile but it feels more like a grimace. “Yeah, I’m just…really, really nervous.”

“You’ll be fine. Just picture them in their underwear.”

Ari rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that never really works.”

“Just do your best,” Rob says. “That’s all we need.”

Yeah. Her best. Her best usually involves a lot of stuttering, but Will is facing the recruits, hands clasped behind his back, with Rob standing next to him before she can say anything more. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Sideswipe and Sunstreaker slowly rolling over to sit behind the group of recruits though no one else pays attention to them as Will begins to speak.

“Alright, everyone, listen up.” Will’s voice projects all around the hanger. He’s very much in his element now, the soldier. The leader. He gives off authority with his even stare and it is an authority that no one would dare to question. “Now that you all have dropped off your gear and seen where you’re going to be living it’s time you met who else you’ll be living with. This is the main Autobot hanger where you’ll mostly be interacting with the Autobots when on duty. Though, when off duty, there are recreational and training rooms that have been built to accommodate both of our species, so you’ll be seeing them there, too. You all are the best of the best from every military branch around the world which is why you have been chosen for this team. Still, all of your skills will be put to the test for what you’ll be doing with N.E.S.T. Your loyalty has already been tested when asked to join this team without being told exactly what you’re getting yourselves into. And Ari here,” he nods towards her and she straightens a little bit as eyes focus on her, “is going to tell you the rest.”

Will then steps back, giving her a quick wink, and Ari steps forward to address the recruits. Already she can feel her cheeks heat up with apprehension. She sees Sides and Sunny inch closer to the back row of recruits but diverts her eyes. She can’t draw attention to the Autobots, not yet. But the words she had prepared are failing her at the moment and won’t come out. She licks her lips. Shifts her weight from one foot to the other.

And then both twins blare their horns as loud as they can just a foot away from the crowd of recruits. Every single one of them jumps, turning, reaching for weapons that are not on their person at the moment. Ari, Ron, and Will just burst into laughter.

“Man,” Rob says breathlessly as he tries to stop laughing. “Things are never gonna be boring on this base, are they?”

Ironhide’s engine roars angrily, causing some of the recruits to jump again, and Sides and Sunny quickly move back over to the rest of the Autobots.

Will shakes his head with a wide grin. “Not by a long shot.”

Ari covers her mouth with her hand, trying to smother her laughter. Those two. They know just how to cheer her up.

“Uh, sir?” one of the recruits speaks up, a burly American with a buzzed head. “What’s up with those cars? And wasn’t that chick driving the Corvette? How’d it move with no driver?”

“Hey, don’t call her a chick,” Will snaps, his fatherly instincts fully kicked in. “And you’ll get your answers soon enough. Ari?”

After composing herself Ari takes a good look out at the crowd, now no longer so nervous. Sides and Sunny will just scare the slag out of them again if she needs them to. Apparently, a good laugh works better than imagining them in only their underwear.

“Hello, everyone,” Ari says. Her voice isn’t nearly as confident as Will’s but at least it’s not shaking. “My name is Ari Lennox.” She glances at the recruit who had spoken and he looks a little sheepish. She smiles. “I know you must have a lot of questions. Hopefully I’ll be able to answer some of them now. I am the first human who had contact with the Autobots. As a species, they are known as Cybertronians, autonomous robotic organisms from a distant planet known as Cybertron.”

Ari goes on to tell them a condensed version of what has happened, from the war on Cybertron to the Battle of Mission City, though she tells them the AllSpark was destroyed except for one shard. Not once does she stutter. She’s very proud of herself, but now it’s the hard part. She has to actually introduce them to the Autobots. Without anyone freaking out. Again.

She licks her lips nervously and glances over at Sideswipe, nodding to him once. His engine comes alive again as he rolls closer to the base of the scaffold.

“Now I am going to introduce you to the Autobots,” she says, the palms of her hands starting to feel sweaty. This is either going to go really good or really bad. “I’ll start with the first one I ever met.” With a deep breath she climbs down the ladder to approach Sideswipe’s hood.

“Is…Is one of them inside that car?” a woman recruit asks.

Ari smirks. “In a manner of speaking.” She sits down on Sideswipe’s hood facing the recruits. Patting the warm metal she whispers, “You ready for this?”

A loud rev is her answer. Some of the recruits start to look nervous.

“Don’t be afraid,” she calls out. “He means you no harm.”

And she’s going to prove it, similar to how she proved it when introducing Sarah to Sides and Sunny. She’s going to show them how gentle they can be.

“Alright, Sideswipe, time to show them your pretty face.”

Sideswipe begins to whirl and then metal shings against metal as it moves. The recruits gasp, several taking steps back, as Sideswipe transforms, his parts folding and unfolding as he stands up. Ari moves with him from where she is seated, lifted up higher and higher with each shifting part. She stares out at the recruits with complete calm, a soft smile on her face and no fear in her eyes. She is not afraid of falling or Sideswipe hurting her. She has no reason to be. When the transformation is complete she sits atop Sideswipe’s shoulder gazing down at the startled faces of the recruits.

She laughs. “You all should see your faces.”

“They are hilarious,” Sideswipe agrees. “I could take a picture if you like.”

“No, we should probably go easy on them. At least for today. You already pranked them once. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“My pleasure. Their faces were hilarious then, too.” He then straightens his shoulders and raises a hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m Sideswipe. Frontrunner for the Autobots.” He lifts both hands, fists clenched, and his blades shoot out of his wrists. “I like to get up close and personal.”

A couple of the recruits chuckle a little, though nervously, but the breath Ari hadn’t even realized she’d been holding suddenly releases. She grins and gestures over for Sunstreaker to come forward. He wheels up next to his brother and transforms as well.

“The name’s Sunstreaker,” he says and reveals his wicked blades as well.

One of the recruits looks at the two curiously and asks, “Do all of you look alike?”

“No,” Ari answers. “Sideswipe and Sunstreaker here are twins. A rare occurrence among Cybertronians, even more so than for humans. These two were the first Autobots I ever met.” She places a hand on top of Sideswipe’s head and smiles at the twins fondly. “They have saved me countless times since then and have become my good friends.”

Most of the recruits are more relaxed now, though some still seem to be tense. Still, better than she thought things would turn out. She looks over at Will and Rob and they both give her a thumbs up.

Ari turns her head to the rest of the Autobots. “How about the rest of you introduce yourselves now?”

The other Autobots transform as the recruits look on in surprise at even more vehicles turning out to be alien robots. Optimus steps forward to address them.

“Greetings, friends,” he says, his voice emanating calm and authority. “My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.”

* * *

Optimus takes over now that Ari’s part is done. She tried to smooth things over as best she could and it seems like it worked. Or, at least, it worked as best it could. A lot of the recruits still seem a little shaken, some of them wary, and a few of them even a little distrustful. But she expected as much. Humans are notorious for not liking things they don’t understand, especially if that something turned out to be several hundred tons of metal alien. It will take a very long time to develop between the recruits and the Autobots the same kind of trust Ari, Will, and Rob have for them. All she can do is hope that everyone is able to.

After the introductions are finished the recruits and Autobots go together on a tour of the rest of the base with Ari still perched on Sideswipe’s shoulder. And she has no plans of climbing down any time soon. Many of the recruits have eyed her with worry at where she sits and she needs to prove to them that there is nothing for them to worry about.

Most of the base is Cybertronian-sized, with tall, wide hangers and hallways that connect them. The main Autobot hanger branches off into three sections. The med bay is to the left, the training room to the right, and the hallway leading to the Autobot rooms down the center. Everything in the Autobot dorms are huge, huge beds, or as the Autobots call them, berths, large desks, and large chairs, all made out of metal with the berth having a large mattress and pillow on top of it. The med bay is kind of divided in half. One half is for Cybertronians, the other for humans. The human half is elevated on a huge metal table with human-sized beds and equipment resting on top of it. Considering his vast knowledge and technology, Ratchet will be the main doctor for both species and this way he can more easily work on the humans when he needs to use his bipedal form. The training room is also divided into two with different-sized equipment on opposite sides of the room with bulletproof glass separating the two halves, more for human protection than the Autobots, just in case something goes wrong during a training session. Ironhide developed the glass himself and he promises that not even a plasma cannon can blast through it.

Next is the recreation room, which is a separate building built between the human dorms and the main facility. Nothing is separated here but mingled together to help encourage human-Autobot interaction. In the same building there is also the mess hall built with the same thought in mind. Ari can’t help but be impressed, wondering if Optimus came up with the idea. Humans and Autobots getting along and used to each other is going to be important if N.E.S.T. is to be successful.

“Hey, Ari,” Will calls up to her when the tour is over and the recruits are dismissed to finish settling in. “You want to go check out your room?”

“What?” she asks in surprise. She taps lightly on Sideswipe’s shoulder and he places her back on the ground. “I have a room?”

“Course you do,” Rob says. “We figured you’re probably gonna come round here a lot and home’s hours away. Even with Sideswipe driving it would probably be better if you just stay the night if it ever got too late.”

“It’s also just in case,” Will looks around to make sure no one is listening and drops his voice so as not to be overheard. “It’s just in case both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ever get called in for a mission. Optimus doesn’t want to leave you unprotected, and I agree with him, so if it ever happens you’ll be staying on base until they get back.”

Ari nods in understanding. She didn’t even think of the possibility of both Sides and Sunny getting called away at once. She hopes it doesn’t ever happen. If it does, then that means whatever they’re going after will be really big and really dangerous. She pushes those thoughts away and smiles brightly. “Cool. Thanks. So, where is it?”

“It’s in that building.” Will points to the second dorm building built for commanding officers, like Will and Rob, and any special guests that may visit. “Just go through the lobby to the stairs, up to the third floor, and it’s the second door on the left right in between Rob’s and mine.”

“So do Sunny and I have a room?” Sideswipe asks excitedly.

“Yeah, it’s the second on the right, I think. You two are bunking together.”

“Sweet.” Sideswipe and Sunstreaker start to roll away back towards the Autobot dorms but Sides gives a parting wave to Ari. “See you in a little bit, Ari. Don’t get lost!”

She rolls her eyes at him. “It’s a military base, Sides, not a theme park.”

Ari says her good byes to Will and Rob after Will hands her the key to her room and heads towards the human dorms. Some of the recruits who are still milling about outside give her curious looks but most just ignore her. She introduced herself as Ari Lennox today, the first time she’s ever had to do it since getting adopted, and they’re probably a little intimidated about approaching the Major’s daughter.

Her room is nice, a single room so she won’t have to share, with a dresser, desk, and a bed that doesn’t look too uncomfortable considering it’s military issue. She has a nice big window above her desk, perfect for climbing out and into the waiting hand of an Autobot if the need ever arises.

She chuckles to herself. “How is it that life could change this much?”

With one last look at her room she leaves to go find Sideswipe again. She’s just about to exit through the double doors of the lobby when another man bursts through, blocking her path. He’s middle-aged with brown hair, glasses, and a scowl on his face. Two other burley men come in behind him, their eyes masked by dark sunglasses.

“Why is there a child on a secret military base?” the man with the glasses asks, his frown deepening.

Ari steps back nervously. Definite authority figure and he doesn’t look very nice. This isn’t going to go well. “My name is Ari Lennox, sir.”

“Lennox? Are you Major Lennox’s daughter?”

Ari nods.

“And just why did he think it would be a good idea to bring his daughter on base? No family members are allowed here. They’re not even allowed to know where ‘here’ is.”

“B-but I’m allowed to be here, sir.”

He raises a disbelieving brow. “Oh really? Not as far as I was told you’re not, and I certainly don’t see any kind of badge stating you have clearance.” He snaps his fingers impatiently and the two goons behind him step forward. “Escort Ms. Lennox off base.”

Ari tries to protest but they’re already grabbing at her. She jumps back out of reach and then lunges forward to duck underneath an elbow and dashes out the front door. She goes full sprint for the Autobot hanger with the men’s shouts catching up to her. Blindly she reaches underneath her shirt for her Autobot pendant and pushes the black button for the comm link. She holds the button down and says, “Are there any Autobots in the main hanger?”

Static clicks and then Optimus answers her. ::I am. Is something the matter?::

“I’ve got three angry guys in suits chasing me who are pretty determined to kick me off base.”

::Not if I can help it. I will meet you at the doors.::

::We’re on our way, too,:: she hears Sideswipe say and relief rushes through her. She drops the pendant and keeps on running with everything she has.

As soon as she enters the hanger a large metal hand picks her up and she’s suddenly sitting on top of Optimus Prime’s shoulder. She clings to the side of his head as she looks down. “Wow, you really are a lot taller than Sideswipe.”

Optimus chuckles. “Indeed I am.”

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker suddenly come skating out of the hallway leading to the Autobot dorms looking ready for battle. They skid to a halt next to Optimus, tires squealing.

“You alright, Ari?” Sideswipe asks. Optimus picks her up off his shoulder and hands her to Sideswipe. She feels like a rag doll but she can’t find it in herself to protest as she’s placed safely on Sideswipe’s shoulder again. “Who’s been bothering you?

“Them.” Ari points to the three suites who have finally caught up. The two big guys seem barely winded but glasses is bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

Optimus growls softly. “Mr. Galloway, why are you insisting Ari leave the base?”

She looks at him with wide eyes. “You know this guy?”

“He is the World Security Council Representative whom we’ve been talking to over the treaty the past few weeks.”

“Oh.” And now he’s mad at her. Wonderful.

“Yeah,” glasses, Galloway, says. “‘Oh.’” He takes in a few more deep breaths and then stands straight again. He takes his glasses off, wipes them with a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, and then puts them back on as he glares up at her. “Now, does someone mind telling me why this girl is on a secret military base?”

Optimus narrows his optics at Galloway. “This is Ari Lennox. She is our ally and friend and she is allowed to be here.”

“Well I wasn’t made aware of that. And if I wasn’t told, then she’s not allowed here.”

“Yes, she is. We made sure Ari would be allowed access to this base in the early days of the formation of the treaty. Your Council agreed.”

Galloway blanches. “This is Ari _Wickity?_ ”

“It was _Witwicky_ , sir,” Ari corrects. Why is it no one can get her name right? “I was adopted by the Lennoxs shortly after the Battle of Mission City.”

“And why in the world would they do that?”

“I believe that is none of your business, Mr. Galloway,” a new voice says. Another man in a suit walks into the hanger, roughly the same age as Galloway with slightly shorter brown hair and a facial expression that gives absolutely nothing away. “I highly doubt it is a subject Ms. Lennox wishes to discuss with you. If you really wish to know I’m sure someone such as yourself could easily find out on your own.”

Galloway turns his glare on the new man, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “And you are?”

The man pulls a badge out of his jacket pocket and flashes it at Galloway but Ari is too high up to get a look at it. “I’m Agent Phil Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D.” He puts the badge away. “Since S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be responsible for keeping N.E.S.T. and all of its operations a secret from the world Director Fury wanted to get eyes on it. See what exactly it is we’re protecting.”

“That’s fine and all, agent, but we should not be allowing this child to be running around a base full of soldiers and giant aliens.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Galloway, but that isn’t up to you or me. Ms. Lennox’s allowance to be on base is an official part of the treaty which the World Security Council agreed to. Unless you want to go against both the Council and the Autobots,” Galloway casts a nervous glance at Optimus and the twins, “I suggest you leave the girl alone.”

Galloway clenches his teeth, sending another glare towards Ari. He really wants to kick her off base, she can tell. But there is absolutely nothing he can do about it. He releases a tense sigh and she smirks. “Very well.” He turns on his heels and heads back out on the tarmac, gesturing for his two men to follow. “I’ve seen enough here. Let’s go.”

There is a collective sigh of relief as Galloway and his two stooges head back towards a waiting helicopter. Sideswipe nudges her gently with the side of his head. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She looks at the agent still standing at their feet with a gracious smile. “Thank you, Agent Coulson. I thought for sure he was going to drag me off, treaty be slagged.”

Agent Coulson shows no signs of confusion at her choice of words as most people do when she uses Cybertronian slang. Really, he shows no emotion at all except for a constant, quiet contentment. “You are welcome, Ms. Lennox. He was way out of line.” He looks between Optimus and the twins. “You know, when they said they found aliens this wasn’t exactly what I pictured.”

Optimus chuckles. “It never is. My name is Optimus Prime, and these are Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. If you are here to observe our operations, then would you perhaps like a tour of the base?”

“That would be great. I need to speak with Major Lennox as well.”

“Very well.” Optimus bends down to one knee and lowers a hand to the ground palm up. “Shall we?”

For once Agent Coulson looks a little uncertain. “Uh….”

“He wants you to get on,” Ari says. He raises an eyebrow at her. “It’s fine. I do it all the time.”

“You do not have to if it makes you feel uncomfortable,” Optimus says. “It simply makes conversing with one another easier.”

Agent Coulson looks back down at the hand then up at Ari again. Finally, he shrugs and climbs on.

“Welcome to the crazy, Agent Coulson,” Sunstreaker says with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, our first official Marvel character, not including the Council, is Coulson! I love Coulson. I was so sad when he died in the first Avengers movie but then I saw previews for the T.V. show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and saw him still alive and I did a happy dance. He's one of my favorite Avengers. And he is an Avenger, Tony Stark said so!
> 
> Anyway, Galloway is now also on the scene. You had to figure he'd be showing up eventually. He had to in order to be here for the second movie. Before you ask, there are still quite a few chapters before we get to the second movie. There's a lot of other stuff I want to get through first. I think it's roughly about ten more chapters. Well, it depends on what you count as the start of the movie. Like with the first movie, I added stuff, so the lines blur a little.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	20. School is Now in Session

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I'm a horrible person for making you wait so long. And it's only going to get worse.
> 
> Next month is NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month for those of you who don't know. Every year, nanowrimo[dot]com hosts a contest: write an original work at least 50,000 words in length during the month of November for the chance to win some really cool prizes. I tried to do it last year but school got in the way. This year, I'm going to try again but have a better chance of actually doing it. However, that means some bad news for you guys.
> 
> Starting now, I'm not going to be writing anymore fanfiction. I'll be picking it back up in December, but for right now, I'm focusing on NaNoWriMo.
> 
> That's why it took me so long to get this chapter out. Not only was I trying to plan out my original story, but I wanted to get my Jurassic World fic finished so that I could have at least something to post while I'm on hiatus. I know it's not Move Along, but I hope it can tide you guys over until I'm back to this fic. I've already started posting, as some of you have already discovered. It's 24 chapters long, including the prologue and epilogue, and I'm posting every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, which means the last chapter will be going up at the beginning of December. It's called Life Versus Living and I hope you guys check it out!
> 
> Alrighty, go onward and enjoy!

It’s early, so early that the first rays of dawn have yet to even breach the horizon. Ari woke up not long ago, her mind no longer able to keep its running thoughts quiet enough to sleep. Now she lays atop Sideswipe’s chassis with him lying awake beneath her as they gaze up at the stars. She hadn’t meant to wake him when she came out but he seemed to know just when she approached, as if sensing she needed some company. He just picked her up and let her snuggle in close to his spark, covering her with his hands to keep her warm. His thumb strokes along the bare skin of her arm and she closes her eyes, relishing in the comforting feeling.

“How do you think everything will go today?” Ari whispers so as not to wake the recharging Sunstreaker who lies not far away.

“You’re starting your junior year of high school,” Sideswipe says, “not going into battle.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms last school year. I did kind of just not show up the last few days. And after everything, things are just…different now.”

“Good kind of different?”

“Yeah.” Ari pats the back of Sideswipe’s hand. “Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t change anything. It’s just that,” she bites on her bottom lip, “the stuff that happened with Ron. It made the news. No one covered it very heavily, thank Primus, but it was enough. Hal said he saw it on T.V. whenever I started working at the diner again. And if he saw it, then I can almost guarantee at least one person from school who actually remembers my name saw it, too. So by the time I get there today everyone else will also know what happened.”

“And that’s bad?”

“It’ll cause a lot of attention. The kind I’m probably not going to like. But it shouldn’t last. Eventually they’ll forget it and move on. Find something else to gossip about. But until then a lot of eyes are going to be on me and it’s going to get uncomfortable.”

Sideswipe tightens his grip on her. “If you ever need anything, I’ll be there. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Ari says with a soft smile. “Yeah, I know. So how is this going to work?”

“A lot like it did before you even knew about us. I’ll be in the parking lot posing as your car.”

Ari groans. “Oh, gosh, that’s going to cause a lot of gossip, too. How am I going to explain how I suddenly have a brand new Corvette Sting Ray?”

Sideswipe’s chuckle vibrates beneath her. “I’m sure you’ll think of something. Just tell them your new dad got it for you.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“I have em every once in a while.”

“Yeah, _only_ every once in a while.”

“Hey.” He pokes her in her side and she laughs, trying to squirm away. She tilts her head back to look at him. His optics are glaring at her playfully and she grins with her tongue poking out between her teeth. He just shakes his head at her and looks back up at the sky. “Anyway, I’ll be in the parking lot keeping an eye on you and Sunny will be patrolling around the city keeping close to the school. We haven’t heard a peep from the Decepticons since Mission City. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Ari hums noncommittally, thinking about the Decepticons. Wondering where they are, what they’re doing. If there’s more of them now or more coming. If they’ll ever attack again or stay hidden in whatever hole they’ve found themselves in. But she shakes those thoughts away. There’s no use worrying over it now. She has enough to worry about as it is.

Ari and Sideswipe stay where they are for a little longer, but when dawn comes Ari heads back inside to get ready for the day. School is now an hour away so she has to leave pretty early in order to get there before 7:30. She puts on a new outfit set aside for the first day of school, slings her new backpack over her shoulders full of new school supplies, and goes back downstairs ready to tackle this day. Or at least as ready as she’ll ever be. But when light filtering in from the kitchen catches her eye she pauses on the last step and redirects from the front door. Pausing in the doorway she’s surprised by what she sees.

Will and Sarah are leaning against the kitchen counter sipping from cups of coffee still dressed in their pajamas. Will she can understand. Ironhide should be here soon to take him back to base. Since his house is so close to base he comes home on the weekends, which has been really nice. But for both Will and Sarah to be up and waiting for her?

Sarah smiles when she sees her. “Good morning, Ari. You ready to start this day?”

She slips her backpack from her shoulders and lets it land on the ground as she approaches to sit on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. “Uh, yeah, but what are you guys doing up so early?”

“This is your first day of school,” Will says, “and it’s your first time going to school as our daughter. We wanted to do everything properly.”

“You really didn’t need to see me off.”

“But we wanted to.” Sarah reaches behind her, picking up a blue lunch box. “And I wanted to make you this.”

Ari gets up and takes the insulated bag. “You really didn’t have to. I have lunch money.”

“Oh, please, I remember cafeteria food. The best was the pizza and even that didn’t taste very good. And it can’t be very healthy.”

“You got that right.” Ari walks back to her backpack and slips the lunch box inside. “Thanks. I better get going before I’m late.”

“Have a good day at school,” Will says and Ari turns to exit the house with a smile on her face. Ron never told her to have a good day at school before.

The trip is quiet, peaceful, as the two Autobots drive side by side down barren roads almost no one travels, let alone this early in the morning. Ari closes her eyes and rests, allowing the gentle rocking of Sideswipe’s alt mode and the soft hum of his engine to lull her into a state between waking and sleeping. She got very little sleep the night before so it’s nice to just sit and be for a little while. It allows her to prepare for whatever lies ahead. She takes notice of the increasing sunlight behind her closed eyelids but beyond that Ari doesn’t pay attention to the passage of time or distance. It isn’t until Sideswipe says something that she realizes they’ve arrived at Tranquility High School.

As soon as her eyes open she can see several eyes on her. Or, at least, on Sideswipe. She was right, the new “car” is drawing a lot of attention. Guys and girls alike are eying Sideswipe’s alt mode with envy. Even some of the school faculty are looking. They can’t see Ari because of the tinted windows, but as soon as she steps out it’ll all start.

She sighs. “There are going to be so many questions. Hopefully everyone just leaves me alone like they usually do.”

“If anyone gives you any problems, you let us know,” Sideswipe says and his doors unlock.

Ari fingers the pendant underneath her shirt. “I will.” She then pulls a jacket out of her backpack and puts it on.

“What are you doing? I thought we got you past this, covering up your arms.”

“You have, mostly. But it’s not just my scars I’m covering.” She places a hand over her left arm where she knows the AllSpark mark is. “The mark looks a lot like a tattoo and that’s what everyone else will think it is. And tattoos are against the school dress code. I have to keep it covered as long as I’m here.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

“Yeah, a lot of things in the dress code are.” Ari grabs her backpack and pushes the door open. “Well, I’m off.”

::Break a leg, Squishy,:: Sunstreaker says over the radio from wherever he’s wondered off to.

Ari puts one foot out but hesitates to get out further. Glancing around she can see several pairs of eyes surreptitiously peeping her way wanting to get a look at her, the driver.

“It’ll be fine,” Sideswipe tells her. He opens his door all the way for her. The high-pitched, annoying ringing of the first bell sounds throughout the school.

_Right. It’ll be fine, Ari. Just take a deep breath and stand up. Come on, you can do this. You’ve done a lot of things the past few months that have been a lot harder than this. It’s just high school. How hard can it really be?_

Pretty hard it’s feeling right now. But she does as she tells herself to do. She takes a deep breath and stands up out of the car.

“Good luck,” Sideswipe says low enough so no one else can hear and closes his door.

Ari then puts her backpack over her shoulders, lifts her chin up, and starts walking towards the school. She can feel the eyes boring into her skull, heating up her face. Oh, wait, that’s just the blush crawling along her skin. She takes a few more deep breaths as she concentrates on what’s in front of her, on where she needs to go, and on nothing else. All with her head held high. She can hear the whispers as she enters the building and walks down the halls towards her homeroom. Word travels fast. The gossip of her new car, what happened with Ron, anything and everything is probably spreading like wildfire right now. All she can do is hope that all everyone will do is talk about it amongst themselves for a little while and the gossip doesn’t get too outrageous. That’s all she needs right now, someone badmouthing her behind her back. She’d rather be known as the quiet bookworm with no friends than the slut who slept her way to a Corvette Sting Ray. But hopefully if things do get that bad she won’t ever have to hear about it, that no one will confront her about any of this. She just wants to be left alone.

She finds her homeroom on the second floor of the school and slips into a desk. There are still whispers all around her but no one approaches. Everyone leaves her alone for the moment as first day of school banalities are gone through. It’s the same speeches they heard last year, the same school code of conduct, the same everything, but they always insist on repeating themselves year after year. The only difference is her name on the roll call. _That’s_ more of an adjustment than what she thought it would be. She’s used to being, nine times out of ten, the very last person on the roll. Now her last name is Lennox. She’s more in the middle now, which is really weird. She almost doesn’t say “here” because she forgot to expect it. And when she does respond to the new name the whispers and stares start again.

She gets the combination to her new locker, moves some of her stuff in, and then teachers release the students to go to their normal classes. The classes are just as banal. All they do is go over the course syllabus in every class, what they’re going to do for the year, what supplies are going to be needed, and then the textbooks are handed out. Ari fingers hers gingerly each time she gets one. Opening them here would be a bad idea. Controlling her little learning ability is still a mite difficult. Every time she opens a book her mind starts automatically downloading the information into her brain. It’s not exactly something she should do in public. Will says she kind of looks like she’s having a seizure as she flips through a book at light speed. Ratchet assures her that she will be able to control it eventually. It just takes time, practice, and patience. And it’s true. It’s working. She’s finally able to read a regular fiction book without reading the entire thing from cover to cover in two seconds. Yeah, she’s always wanted to read the Harry Potter series, she just wanted to be able to take her time and enjoy it though. So, she can read books for fun again, but information books are still going to take some time to get the hang of. At least once she “downloads” a book she won’t flip out if she ever looks at it again. That’s something. And it’ll make classes easier since she won’t have to come up with excuses for not turning to the page the teacher asks.

When lunchtime rolls around halfway through her day she’s starting to feel back in her own skin again. So far, all anyone has done is stare from afar. She’s caught the odd sentence out of context when she passes some people by that sounds like it could be about her, but all she’s heard is what she’s been expecting. Did you hear about her dad? I can’t believe that happened. Why didn’t she ever say anything? Where did she get that car? Pretty basic gossip and nothing she really cares about. Let them talk as much as they want. But when she pulls out her ham and cheese sandwich from her lunch box, chuckling to herself because Sarah thoughtfully cut off the crusts, things turn a little south.

It’s a beautiful day for August in Nevada. The promise of chilly weather can be smelt on the air and the trees are starting to shed their leaves. But the time for colder weather is still several weeks away. For now, the sun is keeping everything nice and warm. The cafeteria is stuffy, filled with people she doesn’t know and leaving no clear space to sit at a table, so Ari turns to the benches outside. Other students are out there, too, soaking up the sun’s rays, but not many. She chooses a table underneath the shade of a large oak on the lawn and digs into her food. Over to the left she can see the student parking lot, with Sideswipe sticking out like a sore thumb among all of the older, more used cars. He flashes his headlights at her and she smiles, wishing she could wave to him without looking stupid. She doesn’t need to give people even more reason to talk about her.

She’s just finishing up her sandwich when someone sits down beside her with a hard thump causing the wooden bench to squeak. Startled, she lifts her head from her food to see Trent DeMarco seated backwards on the bench, leaning back with his elbows perched on the table.

“Hey, Short Stuff,” he says, flashing her what he must consider his most charming smile. She slides further away from him towards the end of the bench. “Miss me?”

Ari isn’t sure what to say. The last time she said something Trent didn’t like things went badly for her. But she can’t just let him push her around either. Not anymore.

“Not really, Trent,” she tells him as calmly as she can and then looks back down at her lunch, ignoring him.

Trent’s smile fades a little but his confidence doesn’t as he slides closer to her. She slides further away until she is at the very edge of the bench with nowhere else to go. Trapped.

She glares at him. “Leave me alone, Trent.”

“Now why would I want to do that?” His smile returns, wider than before and more mischievous, like he’s about to give a swirly to some kid he sees as inferior than himself. Definitely not like Sideswipe’s smile. “So, where did you get the car? It’s a sweet ride. Corvette Sting Ray, right?”

Ari licks her lips nervously, eyes darting towards Sideswipe. “My…dad bought it for me.  My adoptive dad.”

“Right, I heard about what happened with your dad. That must’ve sucked.” Trent slides closer still to her so that no space is between them, now leaning on only one elbow with his body angled towards her. His tall, muscular body towers over her like a wall, cornering her. “Bet you wished you had someone like me around to protect you.”

Trent lifts a hand as if to touch her face. She’s about to slap it away when suddenly another hand is there grabbing Trent’s wrist before he can touch her.

“Back off,” a deadly calm voice says behind her, “right now.”

“Hey, man, just who the hell are you?” Trent asks, voice getting angry. He tries to pull away but the hand on his wrist is vice-like and unyielding.

“I’m a friend of Ari’s,” the voice behind her says. A voice Ari knows well. Sideswipe’s other hand comes up to rest on her shoulder and she covers it with her own, squeezing gently.

“Let him go, Sideswipe,” she says softly. His grip on Trent’s arm looks tight, too tight, as the skin turns red. He’s using more strength than a normal human possesses and if he doesn’t let up soon he could seriously hurt Trent.

Trent pulls at his hand again. “Look, dude, you have about two seconds to let go of my arm before I-”

“Before you what?” Sideswipe growls as his hand constricts harder on Trent’s arm. Trent tries to keep up a manly facade like he’s not hurting but he still lets out a grunt of discomfort. A little more and the bone might start to crack.

“Sideswipe, let him go. You’re hurting him.”

“From this day forward you will leave Ari alone,” Sideswipe warns. “You will not talk to her. You will not touch her. You won’t even _look_ at her. And if you do, I’ll know. And then you’ll end up somewhere more precarious than the top of a flag pole.” Trent’s eyes flash in alarm, realizing Sideswipe is the one who left him hanging from the school flag pole by his boxer shorts during the last week of school. “And you are not to mention this little discussion to anyone. Are we clear?”

Trent nods rapidly and wordlessly, his face going completely white. Sideswipe lets go of his wrist and Trent scrambles to his feet. One foot catches on the bench almost sending him tumbling to the ground, but he catches himself and then dashes off with his tail set firmly between his legs.

With a deep sigh a new weight falls on the bench beside Ari, the hand on her shoulder slipping away. Sideswipe takes up a similar position Trent was in only this time Ari is perfectly happy with the company. But when she looks at his face she frowns. The face of Sideswipe’s holoform is rigid, cold. His normally bright blue eyes are dark with barely suppressed anger.

“Hey,” Ari says softly, reaching out and taking his hand again. “I was the one who had their personal space violated. Why do you look more upset than me?”

Sideswipe closes his eyes and lets his head lull back with another sigh. “Sorry, it’s just…It was that same human from before, who picked on you and upset you until you almost….”

Ari squeezes his hand. “Yeah, I know. But that’s still no reason to hurt him. If Optimus ever finds out he’ll rip you a new aftpipe.”

He snorts indignantly. “Yeah. Yeah, he would.”

“You also shouldn’t have butted in like that.” His eyes shoot to hers with slight shock. “Sides, you can’t fight all of my battles for me. I was handling it.” He narrows his eyes at her. “What, I was! Look, you keep telling me to face my fears and not to let them control me and that’s what I was trying to do. So next time just let me handle it on my own, all right?”

Sideswipe looks at her for a few more moments and then the tension he was holding suddenly releases from his muscles. “Alright. I’ll try. It’ll be hard, though, when it comes to that slagging human.”

“What’s with it with you and Trent? It sounds like there’s more to this story than what you’re telling.”

He quickly diverts his eyes and she raises an eyebrow in silent question. He sighs. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

Her other eyebrow shoots up as well and then she bursts into laughter. “Oh, Sideswipe, you don’t need to worry about that. Trent’s just had this crush on me since middle school and he refuses to take no for an answer.”

“All the more reason you should let Sunny and me teach him another lesson.”

“No, Sideswipe,” she says firmly, moving her hand from his to take his chin and lift his head so he’s forced to look at her. “You won’t do anything to Trent, you understand? You’ve sworn not to harm humans and I don’t want you breaking that promise and making any human leaders mad because of me. I can handle this myself.”

Sideswipe still looks hesitant but after a moment he nods. Ari drops her hand and goes back to her lunch, wondering why all of this would make Sideswipe so upset but figuring it must be some Guardian thing.

She bits into a Granny Smith apple, swallows. “You know, you should probably leave before anyone sees you.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You’ll get into trouble if they catch you.”

He smiles mischievously, a smile so much better than Trent’s. “All the more fun. Besides, all the human adults are busy watching the students in the cafeteria. They’ll never know I’m here.”

Ari just smiles, taking another bite of her apple.

Things are definitely going to be interesting from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, that's right, Trent, you better run.
> 
> Next chapter is absolutely adorable, but you'll have to wait until December for it. Sorry, but I hope you all will wait for me! I'll get back to this fic, I promise!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	21. Celebrating Existence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww yeah, I'm back. :D
> 
> It's good to be back to this fic after a month, and what a long, interesting month it's been. My Jurassic World fic, Life Versus Living, was quite successful and I'm so happy with how it all went. I also had really fun with NaNoWriMo. I made it to the 50,000 word count and am proud to call myself a winner! I got a really cool price out of it too. Still, good to be back, because Ari still has a long way to go before the end of this fic.
> 
> Alright, after so long, go onward and enjoy!

The beeping of the alarm clock penetrates Ari’s foggy mind, calling her consciousness back to the waking world. Slowly, her eyelids flutter open. It takes a few tries, but the clock finally comes into focus, the red glowing lines becoming clearer. She allows the beeping to continue as she looks at them. It’s seven in the morning on a Saturday, but not just any Saturday, she sees.

It’s her birthday.

Raising a hand up she slams down on the alarm to turn it off, but doesn’t get out of bed. She just lays there thinking about past birthdays.

Ari used to keep track of her birthday, getting excited as the day approached. As soon as it was a month before her birthday she would be counting down the days. And then the morning of she would be a bundle of joy and expectation. After her mom left, she thought her father would keep things going like any father should. But then the beatings started. She thought, if only on her birthday, things would be different though. Things would be normal. It’s her birthday, her special day. Everything is supposed to be perfect and everyone is supposed to be happy for her, that she was born into this world.

On the morning of her sixth birthday she held these same expectations when she went bounding down the stairs. She entered the living room with a huge grin on her face. Her father was on the couch with a bottle of beer already in hand watching mindless television. She looked at him, waiting for him to notice her, and when he did he only spared her a glance. Her grin faded a little as she continued to stare. Eventually her father gave a tired sigh and asked with annoyance why she was staring. She told him it was her birthday.

“Oh, really,” Ron said snidely. “Well, then, I guess you’re expecting a birthday present.”

He gave her an extra beating that day. Did the same thing the year after that. And the year after that. She got the idea and never mentioned her birthday again. Birthdays ceased to exist for the Witwickys. Neither of them mentioned anyone’s birthday ever again.

Now Ari isn’t sure what to do. Mentioning her birthday won’t get her a beating anymore. And mentioning it is the only way anyone’s going to know today is her birthday, right? No one possibly remembered. She doesn’t expect it from Sideswipe or any of the Autobots. Cybertronians don’t keep track of the day they were sparked life, so they wouldn’t understand what’s so special about a birthday and her birthday isn’t something she and Sideswipe ever talked about. That only leaves Will and Sarah. Her birthday would have been in the adoption paperwork, but what are the odds that they actually remember that? No, probably no one knows. So, what, should she tell them? And make them feel guilty that they didn’t know? No, she definitely doesn’t want to do that.

“Then I’ll keep quiet,” Ari whispers to herself. “Just like I always do.”

Ari gets ready for another day at the diner. The diner opens at seven in the morning but since she lives an hour away from Tranquility Hal lets her come in at 8:30. Well, more like insists. He doesn’t like the idea of her driving so far so early in the morning on pretty much abandoned roads. Even though she’s not the one driving. He doesn’t know that though. She tried to explain to him that it’s fine, but there was just no way to do it without sounding crazy. So, she happily takes advantage of the situation.

She appreciates the delay even more on this morning, when Hal gives her a call about halfway through the drive.

“Hey, Hal,” Ari says into her cell phone’s receiver. “I’m on my way right now.”

“That’s not why I’m calling,” Hall says, his voice sounding slightly apologetic. “I’m actually calling to tell you that you don’t need to come in today.”

That throws her, her mouth opening and closing several times soundlessly before she is able to ask, “Why?”

“When I came in to the diner I found a bunch of water on the floor. Apparently our AC unit started leaking water sometime last night. Now it’s everywhere. I got a guy here trying to fix it. Between that and mopping all this up the diner is going to be closed all day.”

“That’s horrible. Do you want me to come in to help clean up at least?”

“No,” Hal says quickly. “No, that won’t be necessary. I, uh, already have someone coming in later to help. You work hard enough as it is, Ari. Enjoy a free day off.”

Hal’s voice sounds suspiciously…off. But she decides, again, to take advantage of the situation. She thanks Hal, tells him to call her if he does end up needing more help, and then says her good byes.

“So,” Sideswipe says, “what was that about?”

“Don’t have to go into work today.” She sighs. “Guess we went all this way for nothing. Sorry, Sideswipe. Good thing Sunstreaker decided not to come with us today. I’d be getting an earful right now from him.”

“It’s alright. Maybe we should just make the most of it.”

“Make the most of it how?”

“Have a day out on the town. Find a place that makes those waffle things you were telling me about the other day. Then maybe go see a movie.”

Ari bites her lip. “I don’t know. I should probably do some homework.”

“Oh, come one, Ari. Homework would only take an hour at most and you know it.”

He’s right. Ever since the changes with the AllSpark and her ability to learn all of the material in each of her books permanently in no time at all, doing even the toughest of assignments doesn’t take long. But it’s more than just remembering what’s in her textbooks like photographic memory. Everything just makes so much more sense to her now. So, really, doing homework _could_ wait.

“Ari,” Sideswipe says in a singsong voice. “Come on, Ari, can’t we have a day of fun?”

Ari wraps and unwraps a strand of her hair around her finger, tugging at the lock as she thinks it over. Do homework or have a fun day, just her and Sideswipe? Homework. Fun. Homework. Fun. She nods. “I guess my homework could wait. Waffles do sound kind of good.”

“Alright!” Sideswipe takes on a burst of speed and the two of them continue their journey to Tranquility.

Normally when wanting waffles Ari would just go to Hal’s Diner. They make some awesome waffles. But, since the diner is closed, she and Sideswipe will have to find someplace else. Sideswipe, however, seems to have everything covered because he takes them straight to another diner across town. Instead of the retro 70’s look of Hal’s this diner has a homey, mom-and-pop feel to it. It’s small, nice. The sort of place where the owners, an elderly couple and their son, make the time to get to know people, especially if there’s the possibility you’ll be coming back for a return visit sometime in the near future. The place is pretty busy when Ari and Sideswipe’s holoform walk through the double glass doors but the wait for a table isn’t too long. The husband of the diner shows them to a booth, gives them each a menu, and tells them their waiter will be with them shortly. And soon she is, the elderly wife with her pen poised above her pad of paper. Ari orders waffles with strawberry topping and chocolate syrup with a glass of chocolate milk. Sideswipe just orders water. When their food is brought out not long after Ari thanks her with a smile.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” the woman says and then she gives them a wink. “Enjoy your date.”

As the woman walks away Ari blushes bright red. Sideswipe looks between the retreating waitress and Ari with confusion.

“What did she mean?” he asks. “We didn’t order any dates.”

Ari covers her face with her hands, her elbows propped up on the table. “Not ‘date’ as in the fruit. The other kind of date.”

“There’s another kind of date?”

She sighs heavily. “Yes, Sideswipe, there is. Just…L-Look it up.”

As he does so Ari quietly freaks out to herself. Do she and Sideswipe really look like a couple on a date right now? All they were doing was making small talk before the waitress arrived. Sideswipe was just saying how he and Sunstreaker were thinking of pulling another prank soon to “break in the new base.” She had laughed and told him not to do anything to cause Ironhide to blow a gasket. They were just acting like they normally do.

“Hey, Ari,” Sideswipe says, sounding totally calm despite Ari’s mortification. He pokes the back of her hand. “Hey, Ari, come out of hiding, would ya?”

She groans. “No, I’m not coming out of hiding.”

“Why not?”

“Because, it’s embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he says with a laugh. “Going on a date is just two people who like each other hanging out and that’s what we’re doing.”

Ari’s hands jerk down and she stares at him with wide eyes. “Oh, no, Sideswipe, two people going on a date means a lot more than that.”

He rolls his eyes at her. “Yeah, I got that much, but that’s the basics of it, isn’t it?”

She nods slowly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Then don’t worry about it. We may not be boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever, but you like me, right?”

She feels her cheeks get a little hotter if that’s possible. “Of course I do. You’re my best friend.”

“Good, cause I like you, too. And that’s all that matters. So, you going to eat that or what?” he asks nodding towards her food.

“Uh,” she blinks in surprise at the sudden shift in topic and looks down at her plate. “Yeah.” Perfectly fine with just dropping it, Ari picks up her fork and digs in, making sure to get a good slice of homemade waffle, strawberry, chocolate syrup, and a bit of the dollop of whip cream they put on top all on her fork, taking a big bite. It tastes like heaven in her mouth and she smiles as she chews.

“Is it good?”

“Oh, yes,” she says after swallowing.

“Mind if I try some?”

She looks at him skeptically. “You can eat human food with your holoform?”

Without saying a word Sideswipe takes his own fork, cuts off a piece of waffle, and puts it in his mouth. Ari stares at him, wide-eyed, as he chews and then swallows.

“Of course I can,” he says as he grabs another bite, this time with some strawberry. “Ratchet designed the holoforms to allow us to be able to better blend in with whatever life we found on the planet we ended up on. No matter what species, someone would have noticed eventually if we weren’t eating. We just can’t eat that much.”

“Why not?”

“We can chew and swallow the food just fine. We even have taste receptors in our mouths so we can taste it, too. It’s just that we have no way of actually digesting the food.”

“How do you get rid of it then?”

“Holoforms are made up of energy from our sparks so that they can be the best representation of ourselves. That’s why when you touch me, if you pay close enough attention, you can feel the thrum of my spark. That same energy burns the food when swallowed until nothing’s left. Thing is, if we eat too much, then we’d start smelling like something’s burning.” He takes another bite of her waffles.

“Hey,” she slaps at his hand as it retracts with his stolen bite. “You just said you can’t have too much and unlike you, I’m hungry.”

“Sorry, but this stuff is really good. Better than that reprocessed energon slag we’ve been having to eat lately.”

“What does energon taste like?” Ari asks as she continues with her breakfast.

“Well, normally it tastes pretty good. Kind of…sweet, I guess you would call it. But since we have no energon source here we’ve been having to make do with what we’ve brought. Ratchet’s found a way to make it last longer but the process is degrading the energon a little. We can survive on it fine but, like I said, it tastes like slag.”

“How long will it last?”

“A couple of stellar cycles.”

Ari frowns. “And when it runs out?”

“Well, hopefully by then either one of our ships will have arrived with a store of energon or Wheeljack will be here. He’d be able to invent an alternative no problem.”

“Who’s Wheeljack?”

“He’s a crazy genius inventor among our kind, even better than Ratchet though he’s not too bad himself. Likes to blow things up a little too much when he’s experimenting though.”

Ari laughs. “Do we know if he’s on his way?”

“Don’t know,” Sideswipe says with a shrug. “We haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone else yet. Your human satellites have picked up on a couple of objects heading towards Earth, but they’re still too far out to tell who or what they are.” Sideswipe’s eyes get a far away look as he stares off into space. “I’m sure if anyone made it out of there, Wheeljack did.”

Ari stops eating for a moment as she looks at Sideswipe, wondering what he’s seeing right now. The kind of destruction and chaos the war brought about, just Sideswipe and the others telling her stories, it sounds more horrible than anything she could ever possibly imagine. She reaches across the table and takes his hand, drawing his eyes out of the past and back to hers.

“I’m sure he made it out,” she gives him a reassuring squeeze. “And a lot of the others, too. I’m sure they’ll all start showing up soon.”

“Yeah,” he says softly. “You’re probably right.”

* * *

 Ari finishes up and they leave the diner soon after to head to the movie theater. She and Sideswipe are looking over the movie choices when she says, “You know, this will be my first time in a movie theater.”

“Yeah, me too,” Sideswipe says completely serious.

She elbows him in the side. “Smart aft.”

He chuckles. “Why thank you. So what movie shall we watch for our first movie in a theater?”

“Not a chick flick,” Ari says right away. “Definitely not.”

Sideswipe’s shoulders sag a little in relief. “Thank Primus. Will told Sunny and me about chick flicks. They don’t sound fun to me.”

“Me neither. Just…too much drama blown out of proportion for an hour and a half. What about an action movie?”

“Meh, we get enough action in real life as it is.”

“Murder mystery then?”

He grins. “Sounds perfect. Bet you I can guess who did it first.”

She gives him a sly grin back. “You’re on.”

They get their tickets and settle down in the plush chairs of the theater. It’s a nice sized theater with huge stadium seating and the biggest screen Ari has ever seen. There are a few other people who join them in the theater but not many since it is a Saturday morning and this particular movie came out two weeks prior.

About fifteen minutes into the movie Ari makes her guess on who the murderer is, whispering her suspicions to Sideswipe. He makes his own guess as well and they both sit anxiously as they watch events unfold, waiting to find out who is right.

Ari’s guess turns out to the the right one. She flashes him a triumphant grin when it is revealed and Sideswipe just huffs in disappointment. When the movie ends he asks her how she guessed it right and she just shrugs, telling him she’s always had a knack for telling how a story will go.

As they exit the theater Sideswipe says they should probably get back home so they head back to his alt mode, Sideswipe making a big show of getting in before letting his holoform blink out, and they hit the road towards home. During the drive back Ari can’t help but think how the elderly waitress was right. This did really feel a lot like a date. She can understand how the waitress thought it was, looking at them. Even now, she feels like Sideswipe is her boyfriend driving her home after a date. But she shakes those thoughts away. There’s no need to be thinking thoughts like that. Still, this did turn out to be the best birthday ever.

When they reach home Ari, with Sideswipe’s holoform, head back inside. As they enter the house she runs through the list of the homework assignments she needs to do in her head. It isn’t until she closes the front door behind them and turns around that she notices that the house is completely dark.

“Will?” she calls out. “Sarah? You guys here?” There’s no answer. She looks at Sideswipe worriedly. “That’s odd. Sunstreaker was out front, so it’s not like they went anywhere.”

Sideswipe shrugs. “Sunny says they’re still here. Maybe it was just a power outage or something.”

“Maybe…,” but Ari isn’t totally convinced. She heads towards the living room, Sideswipe close behind her. She’s glad he came inside with her. If something really has happened, then she knows she’ll be safe. She steps into the living room and it is completely dark, which is strange because the curtains are usually always drawn open in this room. But now they are closed, keeping the sunlight from filtering in. Feeling along the wall beside her Ari finds the light switch and flicks it on. The fan light on the ceiling above flares to life, temporarily blinding her, but she catches the briefest glimpse of movement.

“Surprise!” a bunch of voices shout at once, causing Ari to jump back slightly and into Sideswipe’s chest. Blinking several times, Ari can’t believe what she sees. Everyone she knows is in the living room, Will, Sarah, Annabelle, Rob, Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz, and Sunstreaker. They must have been hiding in the dark, waiting for her to get home. And the living room is decorated with balloons and streamers everywhere and on the back wall hangs a banner with “Happy Birthday Ari” written on it in big, bold letters.

Ari covers her gaping mouth with her hands, disbelief clearly written on her face and she can feel her eyes starting to brim with tears.

“Do humans usually cry on their birthdays?” Sunstreaker asks.

Rob shakes his head. “No, we don’t. Seriously, Ari, what’s with the waterworks?”

“Ari?” Sideswipe moves to stand beside her so he can see her face, his own face marked with worry. “Ari, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says though it comes out in a horse whisper. “It’s just…you guys remembered my birthday. You actually remembered. How did you even know?”

“We’re your parents,” Will says. “We found out when we adopted you and Sarah marked it on the calendar right away. When we saw it was coming up we told the Autobots and decided we oughta have a party.”

“You didn’t think we really wouldn’t remember,” Sarah says, “did you?”

Ari wipes at her tears with the back of her hand. “Kind of, yeah. It’s just…I haven’t had a birthday in a really long time.”

Ironhide’s brow furrows in confusion. “I do not understand. The anniversary of your birth occurs once a year. Is it something that can be caused not to happen?”

“I think what she means is no one bothered tah remember her birthday before,” Jazz says.

Ari nods. “Basically.”

“That will not be the case,” Optimus says. “Not anymore. You are our ally and friend and we care about you, Ari. You will never be forgotten by us.”

“Yeah, never,” Sideswipe agrees. “Right, Sunny?”

Sunstreaker snorts. “I couldn’t forget a squishy like her even if I tried.”

A chuckle ripples through everyone and a huge grin splits across Ari’s face. They remembered. They actually remembered. And they threw a party just for her. Never before has she felt such happiness as she’s feeling right now. It’s almost as if it’s threatening to burst out of her chest.

Sarah claps her hands together. “Now, how about you open these presents and then we can break into the cake.”

Ari is led over to sit on the sofa in front of a coffee table covered with presents. She can tell which are from the humans and which are from the Autobots. The Autobots apparently had varying success at gift wrapping. One or two look more like bundles of wrapping paper and tape. But just the fact that they actually got her something and actually tried to wrap the presents…as she’s opening up them up she feels the tears threatening to return. Ratchet got her a $100 gift card to Books-A-Million. Optimus got her a 40 inch T.V. Ironhide got her a PS3 to go with the the T.V. Jazz her some games to go with the PS3 with some extra remotes for multiplayer. Ari is completely baffled by the gifts, especially with how they possibly could have afforded it all.

“The World Security Council is providing us with an allowance of human currency,” Optimus explains, “for if we ever need anything we cannot get on our own that has nothing to do with N.E.S.T.”

“Which isn’t a whole lot,” Jazz adds, “so we figured, might as well put the money to good use. Cause we don’t really need it.”

“Guys, you really didn’t have to do this,” Ari says, looking between the Autobots. She should tell them to take it all back, that this is too much for her, but by the stern looks on their faces they’re already way ahead of her in her thinking and they are not going to back down without a fight. So she just shuts her mouth.

“It was our pleasure, little one,” Ratchet says with a smile. “Please do us the honor of accepting our gifts.”

“Thanks, guys,” Ari says, looking down at all of her presents. “I can’t believe you got all of this for me.”

Ironhide grins wickedly. “We also got some things for the recreation room at the base.”

Will laughs, “Oh, the recruits are gonna love you.”

“But,” Sarah interrupts, “we’re not done yet. Sunstreaker, how about you go next?”

Sunstreaker nods once and motions for Ari to follow him. Puzzled, she gets up from her seat, following behind him upstairs. He leads her to her room, opening the door and then stepping back. “It’s in there,” is all he says. Ari pokes her head inside, curious but a little cautious. This is Sunstreaker after all.

Ari gasps at what she finds. The walls and ceiling of her room have exploded with color. Having once been plain white they are now freshly painted, and very freshly considering the open window airing the room out. The heavy smell of paint still lingers on the air. Her walls are now a deep, dark blue and the ceiling. Well, the ceiling is no one color. It is the clear night sky with the stars carefully made to shine with whites and yellows and the constellations that she, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker have been stargazing at for months now fully mapped out with connecting lines and their names written in a neat calligraphy she finds hard to believe came from Sunstreaker’s hands. And curving around her ceiling fan is a crescent moon with even the craters given some shadow and depth.

“Sunstreaker,” she says breathlessly, “did you do all of this?”

He nods. “Yeah, while Sideswipe was keeping you out of the house.”

She tears her eyes away from the ceiling to give him a big grin. “It’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you.”

Sunny shrugs as if it’s no big deal but she can tell he’s a little happy and proud she likes it.

Sideswipe slings his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Yep, Sunny’s a real talented one. He likes to do a lot of stuff like this, painting and crafting and whatnot. You know, he even made our blades.”

“Wow.” Ari looks back up at the ceiling again. She feels like she could stare at the masterpiece for hours. “That’s really amazing, Sunny.”

“Alright, alright, come on, we still got more presents to get to.” Will corrals them out of Ari’s room and back downstairs.

“There’s more?” Ari asks.

“Yep.” Will reaches the coffee table and picks up the second to last box to hand to her. “This is from Rob.”

She glances at Rob as she opens the box and he has a wide grin on his face. The gift turns out to be a video camera.

“Oh, wow,” Ari says as she slips the camera onto her hand and holds the eyepiece up to one eye. “Thank you, Rob.”

He shrugs. “I figured, this is a pretty crazy life you got now with a lot of crazy moments coming your way. Some of them might be worth putting on camera.”

Will then goes for the last box. “And this is from Sarah and me. And I guess Annabelle, too. Since, you know, she still can’t actually get you anything yet.”

Ari tears into the paper, opens the box, and is…confused. She pulls out knee and elbow pads and a helmet, the kind of gear someone would use if they went roller skating, biking, or skateboarding. “What’s all this for?”

“It’s what you’ll need for my present,” Sideswipe says as he takes her hand and pulls her outside with him. Leaning against the porch rail rests a brand new bicycle that had not been there before when they entered the house. Ari approaches it slowly, reaching out a hand to caress the handlebars.

“This is for me?” she asks softly.

“Yep, it’s my present to you. Do you like it?”

Ari bites her lip nervously, keeping her eyes trained on the bike. “I…don’t know how to ride a bike.”

“Don’t worry,” Will says. “We’ll teach you.”

Sideswipe leans his head down close to her ear so only she can hear. “Of course we will. You’ll need it as your getaway for when you help Sunny and me with our pranks.”

Ari laughs. “Sounds like a plan.”

“So, who wants cake?” Sarah calls out and they all head back inside to enjoy some good food, good company, and to break in the new PS3.

* * *

 By the time the party winds down and Optimus, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Jazz head back to base, the night has fully descended. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ari head out into the field again for their nightly stargazing, lying out in the cool night with Ari curled up on top of Sideswipe. Sideswipe covers Ari with his hands, making sure his charge is nice and warm.

He didn’t understand the significance at first, when Will approached him and Sunstreaker with the topic of Ari’s upcoming birthday just a couple of weeks ago. But as soon as Will said it holds great importance among humans Sideswipe knew he wanted to do something special for her. Birthdays are a yearly celebration for humans to give thanks and cheer for a person’s continuing existence. He knew Ron would not have cared at all for Ari’s continued existence. But Sideswipe does. He is very grateful for the human resting in his arms right now. She’s become so important to him in ways few ever do. He always thought that so long as he has Sunstreaker, that’s all he’ll ever need.

But she has proven him so wrong.

“Hey, Sideswipe?” Ari asks, her voice sounding sleepy. He should probably get her inside soon. But not yet.

“Yeah, Ari?”

“The AC didn’t really break at Hal’s, did it?” It sounds more like a statement than a question.

Sideswipe chuckles. “No, it didn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My heart is exploding with fluffiness. I hope yours is too.
> 
> Next chapter you Bumblebee fans will be happy. :) I'll probably post it in the next week or so. I'm trying to get back into posting more than just once a month.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	22. Treading on New Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't got a whole lot of time to chat so just go onward and enjoy!

“So,” Sideswipe says, sitting on his berth at the N.E.S.T. base with a mischievous smile, “what do we think we should do?”

Sunstreaker snorts from where he lays on the berth on the opposite side of the twins’ room, his arms crossed behind his head as a pillow. “There’s a whole slag load we could do.”

Sitting down on Sideswipe’s knee Ari says, “You might want to start off small though. The last thing we need is for you two to scare the soldiers off.”

“Two?” Sideswipe asks. “You’re gonna help us out, aren’t ya?”

She bites her bottom lip and looks down into her lap. “I don’t know. I’m not going to stop you if you want to do this and I’m not going to rat you out, but I’ve never been much of a trouble maker.”

Sunstreaker sits up. “Don’t worry. It’s easy enough to learn.”

“We won’t make you if you don’t want to,” Sideswipe adds. “But it would be awesome if you did. It can be a lot of fun and a good laugh.”

“But what if we get caught?”

“If anyone gets caught it’ll be just Sunny and me, and we won’t rat you out either.”

Sunstreaker rolls his optics. “Like she would get in a lot of trouble anyway. Even if they figure out she helped us no one would ever punish her very much.”

Ari’s brow furrows. “Why do you say that? Is it because I’m the AllSpark?”

“I’m sure that helps, Squishy, but no. It’s mainly because they like you better than us. Ironhide would never give you a kick in the aft but he’d be more than happy to do that to us.”

She grins. “That could certainly be used to my advantage.”

“Does that mean you’ll help us?” Sideswipe asks hopefully.

“Hm, I don’t know.” She taps a finger on her chin, pretending to think about it. Sideswipe’s face falls a little but then she smiles. “Yeah, I’ll do it.”

Sideswipe smiles back. “Yeah?”

She nods. “So, what are we going to do?”

Before they can answer both twins go still, their optics fading. Ari sits up straighter, anxiety trickling under her skin, as she waits to find out what’s being said on the General Comm. She prays to Primus it’s nothing bad. Recently, Decepticons have started showing up, and not the ones they’ve battled before. New Decepticons have arrived on Earth. But when the twins focus again they don’t look worried or ready for battle. Instead, their faceplates split into grins.

“Come on,” Sideswipe says as he puts Ari on his shoulder and heads for the door, Sunstreaker right behind him.

“What’s happening?” Ari asks. “Something good?”

“Frag yeah. One of the signals your human satellites detected heading to Earth, it was a ship, the _Xanthium_. Optimus just got it on the Comms. They say the ship’s damaged and they’re coming in hot. It’s going to land not too far from here within the hour.”

Excitement bubbles up in Ari’s chest. “Are we going along with the greeting party?”

“Yep. Will and some of the other soldiers are grabbing some cars to take with us for alt modes and then we’ll be heading out.”

The main hanger is abuzz with activity, soldiers running left and right. A lot of the soldiers look excited about the coming Autobots. By now they’ve seen some action. They’ve seen what they’ve been training to fight. They know now what they’re up against and even though these first few battles have been wins for them they’ve still lost some good men and women. But they’ve also learned how valuable having the Autobots on their side can be. With more Autobots the battles will become easier, the loss of life less likely. And, for some of the humans, new friends will be made. The soldiers were quite happy when Ironhide brought in the huge flat screen T.V. and PS3 for the rec room and it’s been put to good use. Both humans and Cybertronians have been playing together, laughing together, getting to know each other. So far, the Cybertronian/human integration has been successful and now they work together pretty well, even now, getting ready for a mission that most likely won’t be getting any action. Still, Ari sees some soldiers get into vehicles with guns in hand. Never can be too careful. Never can be too sure what the Decepticons will be willing to try, no matter how unlikely.

When everyone is ready, they roll out into the Nevada desert towards the estimated crash site. The sun is big and hot as it beats down on their small caravan of vehicles. It’s October now, but October in Nevada can still get quite scorching and in the desert there is no shade. Hopefully the Cybertronian ship lands close to where they think it will and they won’t have to go looking for it. However, when they get to the crash site nothing is there. They all come to a stop just meters before where the ship is estimated to land and, by their calculations, it should be here by now.

::Did they land somewhere else or something?:: Will asks over the Comm Link from where he sits with Rob inside Ironhide.

::No,:: Optimus says, ::they should be landing right here.::

Ari steps out of Sideswipe’s alt mode, resting her forearms on top of the open door. The other humans follow suit. They all look around but all they see is empty desert. Ari looks up to the sky, shading her eyes with her hand from the glaring sunlight. They should be here already, so where are they? Her eyes roam the blue expanse of sky, searching. A flash of light catches her eye. She stops, squints at it. There is a small, shiny dot in the sky. And the longer she stares, the bigger it gets.

“There!” she says, pointing at it. “I think it’s them!”

Optimus transforms to his full height, optics focused on where she points. “It is the ship,” he says. “It is flying erratically. The ship must be more heavily damaged than we first believed.”

As the ship gets closer they can all see it. It’s wobbly and the tail end is smoking terribly. And it is also flying straight for them.

Jazz transforms. “It’s gonna crash right on top of us! Everyone scatter!”

Ari leaps back into Sideswipe’s alt mode as everyone clears the area, tires squealing in their rush to get out of the way. A roaring sound builds up in the air as the ship approaches, getting louder and louder as the ship gets closer and closer to the ground until it is practically right on top of them. And then it hits the ground with a loud, resounding boom, dirt flying up as the ship skids across the ground several meters before coming to a jerky halt with its nose buried in the dirt and the tail sticking up in the air. Everything is still for a moment. Then the ship begins to creak and groan and it falls to the ground with one last thud.

Slowly Ari gets out of Sideswipe’s alt mode again and he transforms to stand beside her. She steps carefully closer to the ship, the hull slightly steaming from entering into Earth’s atmosphere and the damage done. It’s even still on fire in some places and there are broken parts scattered about in the gouge the ship caused from its landing. Carefully avoiding the worst bits Ari approaches the side of the ship where it looks like there might be a door. She holds a hand out close to the metal and she can feel the heat radiating off of it.

“Don’t touch it, Ari,” Will warns.

“Yeah,” Ari lowers her arm. “I don’t think I will.” With the ship still too hot to touch she calls out, “Hello! Is anyone in there?” She’s tempted to say ‘We come in peace’ but it just sounds so corny. She turns to Optimus. “Can you get them on the Comms?”

Optimus shakes his head. “I am trying but there is no answer.”

“Hello?” Ari tries again, louder this time.

Something clicks inside the ship and then hisses. Ari jumps back, retreating to Sideswipe’s side. There’s another series of clicks, and then a panel of the ship’s side splits in two and parts, revealing a doorway. Inside stands an Autobot only slightly smaller than Sides and Sunny in protoform, the form Cybertronians take when lacking an alt mode. The only distinguishing aspects of the Cybertronian are his eyes, a pure baby blue, and that he, for some reason, has no mouth. Cautiously he steps out of the ship, looking around at the surrounding Autobots, and gives a whirling sound that sounds…happy somehow. He then looks behind him and gestures for whoever else is in there to come out. Six more Autobots come out, one mech of a slightly larger size, two mechs, much smaller, who look like they could be twins, and three Cybertronians who look distinctly feminine, each with only a single wheel instead of feet. One of the femmes addresses Optimus, speaking Cybertronian, and Optimus responds.

Ari taps on Sideswipe’s leg and he bends down to pick her up and place her on his shoulder. “What are they saying?” she whispers to him.

“He’s explaining to them where they are and what’s happened since we first came here,” Sideswipe whispers back.

“What about what happened to the AllSpark?”

“He seems to be skirting around that issue. We’ll probably do that all later. Somewhere more private.”

Ari nods in understanding. Yes, it would be better to discuss that with less humans around. They’ve kept her status as the AllSpark a secret from the other soldiers who were recruited to N.E.S.T. When they look at the mark on her arm they just think it’s a neat tattoo. And for their safety it needs to stay that way. For her safety as well.

Ironhide steps forward after a moment and says something, catching the femme’s attention. Her optics widen and then something surprising happens.

Ironhide and the femme embrace. She’s so much shorter than him but the height difference doesn’t hinder them at all. She just jumps up and wraps her arms around his neck, Ironhide’s arms enclosing around her to support her weight. It would almost be comical but the looks on their faceplates stops the giggle in Ari’s chest. They look so happy and relieved. And suddenly Ari knows who she is. “She’s Chromia, isn’t she. Ironhide’s sparkmate.”

Sideswipe nods. “Yep, she sure is. Ironhide has been feeling her getting closer for weeks now through their sparkbond. It’s not surprising she was on the ship. Get a good look now, though, cause this is probably the only time you’ll see them all lovey-dovey like this.”

“Watch it, Sideswipe,” Chromia says as she and Ironhide break apart, now speaking perfect English. “Keep it up and I’ll have to show your human allies my skill by kicking your aft.”

Sideswipe actually looks a little scared for a moment and Ari laughs. “I would love to see that. Having Sideswipe dropped a peg or two could be good for him. Sunny, too.”

“Hey,” the twins say indignantly at the same time.

“I like you already, human,” Chromia says with a laugh.

“Ari, my name is Ari Lennox.”

Chromia nods. “Now, Ari, as you already guessed, I am Chromia, Ironhide’s sparkmate. These are my sisters, Arcee and Moonracer,” she gestures to the other two femmes. “We are triplets. This is Bumblebee,” she points to the mech with no mouth, “that over there is Jolt,” she points to the other mech, “and those two knuckleheads are the twins Skids and Mudflap,” she points to the other two mechs who appear to already be fighting over what alt modes they want, both of them eying the same small, red car.

Bumblebee goes up to the twins, picks one up in each hand, knocks them together so hard Ari winces in sympathy, and then tosses them aside, shaking his head and making a sort of disapproving whirling noise.

Ratchet eyes Bumblebee closely. “Is something the matter, Bumblebee?”

Bumblebee whirls sadly. It is Chromia who answers for him. “His vocal processors were damaged as we were fleeing Cybertron. Jolt tried, but he couldn’t fix him. Bee hasn’t spoken since.”

A red light flashes over Bumblebee’s throat as Ratchet scans him, causing Bumblebee to cough. “Hmm,” Ratchet mumbles to himself. “This is quite serious. The damage is extensive. I can do some patchwork but most likely you’ll have to wait for your internal repair systems to fix it on its own. I’m sorry, Bumblebee.”

Bumblebee lets out the saddest whirling sound Ari has ever heard and her heart breaks for him a little bit. He’s not going to be able to talk for who knows how long. Do Cybertronians even have a form of sign language? Or perhaps maybe he can use the General Comm, although that won’t help with talking to humans. Ari sighs, thinking it over for a moment, and then gets an idea.

She taps on the top of Sideswipe’s head. “Let me down, Sides.” He does so and she walks over to stand at Bumblebee’s feet. “Hello.”

Bumblebee whirrs in response. She can tell he’s trying to make it sound happy but he doesn’t do very well.

She gives him a sad smile. “Come on, Bumblebee. Let’s get you an alt mode and then I’d like to show you something that I think may help you.”

He gives her a curious look but then follows her to the assortment of vehicles they brought with them. They have three motorcycles that are just the triplet’s sizes, two small cars meant for the twins, and then two normal sized cars. Bumblebee looks at the cars for only a moment and then takes the yellow Camaro with the black racing stripes down the middle. He scans the car and his protoform changes color and shifts as his body changes to accommodate the new look. Then he transforms into his new alt mode.

Sunstreaker grins. “I knew you’d like it, Bee. Sides and I picked it out just for you.”

Bumblebee revs his engine happily and then Ari knocks on his passenger door. He opens it for her without hesitation and she gets in. “Do you see this?” she says pointing at the radio. “It’s a radio. I was thinking maybe you could use it to talk while you heal. Go on, try it out.”

The radio turns on and scans through the stations, the speakers letting out a jumble of noise. Then words start to come into focus. “XM satellite radio…this could work…all systems are go, captain…much obliged, little lady.”

Ari laughs. It’s just like what she thought Sideswipe would do when she first found out her car was alive, stringing random phrases together from the radio in order to talk. It’s certainly not perfect, but it’ll work for now. “It’s no problem, Bumblebee. Glad I could help.”

“Now that Bumblebee is settled, perhaps the rest of you should scan your new alt modes so we can continue this back at base,” Optimus says and the remaining Autobots quickly follow his orders with Jolt taking the blue car, Chromia the purple motorcycle, Arcee the pink, Moonracer the blue, and the twins finish their fight over the red car with Mudflap winning and Skids settling for the green.

Once everyone is settled they roll on out back into the desert. Ari stays where she is in Bumblebee’s alt mode, her arm leaning out the open window and stroking his door. “There’s so much I want to show you guys. It may not be Cybertron, but I hope you’ll come to love Earth as your new home.”

* * *

Sideswipe rides a little low on his wheels as they drive back to base. Ari has opted to stay with Bumblebee instead of riding back with him. It feels strange, for her to be with another bot and not him. He’s her Guardian, he’s supposed to look after her, be her protector and her ride whenever she needs it. And in the eyes of the human world he is literally her car. The registration stashed in his glove box proves it. So for her to be with someone else. He’s not sure he likes it.

 _“Sideswipe,”_ Sunny says over their bond, _“you’re over-thinking it too much. We’re just going back to base. It’s not like she wants Bumblebee to replace you or anything.”_

 _“I know that,”_ Sideswipe replies bitterly. _“I just have this…funny feeling in my spark, seeing her with Bumblebee, and it won’t go away even though I know it’s irrational.”_

_“Bro, are you…jealous?”_

_“No…I-I don’t think so….”_

_“Holy Primus, you are! Ha, I can’t believe it! Bumblebee hasn’t been on Earth long and you’re already jealous.”_

_“Shut up, Sunny.”_

_“Oh, come on, Sides, you have to admit, it’s kinda funny.”_

_“No, it’s not. Why in the name of Primus would I be jealous?”_

_“Because your femme is with another mech and you don’t like it.”_

_“Sh-She’s not my femme. She’s my charge and my friend.”_

_“Whatever you say, mech, but you’re still jealous.”_

Sideswipe sighs heavily, trying to ignore the feelings of deep amusement coming over the bond from Sunstreaker. _“I really don’t understand any of this, Sunny. Bumblebee is my friend and yet I feel…I don’t know, but I don’t like it and I want it to go away.”_

_“Look, Sides, she’s isn’t going to leave you for Bumblebee or anything. Nothing’s gonna change after just meeting him.”_

_“So what do I do?”_

_“She’s excited about the new bots and making new friends. Just let her and she’ll come back around when she’s ready. At the end of the day, no matter what, she’ll come to you and no one else. Trust me.”_

Sideswipe says nothing as they pass through the base gate and into the main hanger. He screeches to a halt and transforms, turning a little anxiously to watch the others come in behind him, wondering what Ari will do. For a moment he wonders why he cares. Why does he care so much about one human spending time with someone not him? She’s allowed to do what she wants. She has no obligations to spend all her time with him. And he certainly doesn’t want to keep her from making friends, especially with Bumblebee. He’s a great mech and a wonderful friend. And Ari has so few friends. Having Bumblebee as a friend will make her happy, and Sideswipe wants nothing more than for Ari to be happy.

Again, though, why does he feel so…irritated…at the thought of her spending time with someone else?

Bumblebee transforms without letting Ari out, allowing his parts to move around her so that she ends up on his shoulder. Another pang shoots through Sideswipe. He doesn’t like seeing her on his shoulder. He turns his head away.

And then is promptly hit upside the head.

“Ow!” Sideswipe rubs his head and turns to see Sunny glaring at him. “What was that for?”

“For being an idiot,” Sunstreaker says bluntly and he turns as Bumblebee walks up to them, Ari in his hands and holding out her arms for Sideswipe.

Sideswipe could almost laugh at himself, kick himself in the aft even, but instead he just picks Ari up and places her on his own shoulder.

Now he feels so much better. Silly, for being…jealous…but better now that he has her back.

“Hey,” she whispers, leaning her head close to his, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” he assures her quickly, “yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I saw you over here and you looked like you needed cheering up.”

“What do you mean cheering up?” Sideswipe says, trying for innocence. “I’m fine.”

She hits him upside the head.

“Hey!” Sideswipe complains, even though that really didn’t hurt at all. “What’s with everyone hitting me today?”

“I get the feeling it’s because you’re being an idiot, Sides.”

She gives him a sad half-smile and right away he knows she knows what he was thinking about. He glances away sheepishly. He should have known he couldn’t hide it from her. They’ve gotten to know each other well over the past few months since they met. He knows how to read her mood very well by now. And, apparently, she’s gotten good at reading him, too.

Ari places a hand on his chin and presses for him to turn his head to look at her. He doesn’t have to listen, he’s stronger than her and can easily resist, but he moves the way she wants. She’s wearing that soft smile, the one he loves so much. “You’ll always be my mech, Sideswipe. Always.”

Sideswipe just nods, coughs awkwardly, and then says, “So, you ready to do the thing?”

Ari grins, glancing over to Sunstreaker. Sunny grins as well, excitement coming through over the bond. “Yeah. Let’s do this thing.”

* * *

After introductions between the new Autobots and the rest of the humans are made, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker gather the necessary supplies for the prank while Ari goes to her room in order to get her own supplies: her bike, which Ironhide brought over for her from the house, and her messenger bag containing her new camcorder. Riding the bike back to the main hanger feels almost flying. It took her a couple of days but she finally managed to get the hang of riding a bike. Both Will and Sideswipe helped her and she uses the bike at the base to get around whenever she has the chance. She rides as fast as she can, dodging around the soldiers, and a laugh bubbles up in her chest at the realization that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker may be rubbing off on her a little bit. Especially with what she’s about to do.

With a careful eye on Ratchet, who is still standing with the other Autobots catching up with the new arrivals and looking them over, Ari slips down the hallway leading to the med bay without being seen. She looks over her shoulder the entire way, paranoid she’s going to get caught and questioned any minute, but when the med bay doors close behind her she breathes a sigh of relief.

“Were you seen?” Sunstreaker asks.

“No, I don’t think so.” Ari leans her bike against the wall and walks over to Sideswipe who then picks her up and sets her down on the platform holding up the human side of the med bay. “You get everything we need?”

“Yep. Here, catch.” Sunstreaker tosses Ari a roll of pink duct tape. She looks around. The twins already have the Cybertronian sized beds all wrapped in duct tape, the tape wrapping around the legs so that the beds look like giant pink boxes. Ari starts on the human side of the room, rushing to get as much of it done as possible. Ari’s glad they’re doing this now. One or two of the soldiers looked a little skittish when they brought back so many new Autobots. Maybe a good prank will help them see even more that humans and Cybertronians aren’t so different. A good laugh can cure just about anything.

Fifteen minutes later with most of the room done they finally run out of tape. The med bay is now very, very pink. “Alright,” Sideswipe says. “That’s all we can do. Time to get out of here.” He grabs Ari and places her on the ground next to her bike. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“Yeah,” Ari says nervously, grabbing her camcorder from her bag and powering it up. “Yeah, I can do this.”

“You’ll be fine,” Sunny says. “Just remember, if he starts throwing wrenches just make a run for it.”

She swallows heavily but it’s a little difficult. “Yeah, that makes me feel better.”

Sideswipe gives her a reassuring smile. “You’ll be fine.”

Then Sideswipe and Sunstreaker leave the med bay leaving Ari behind. She slips the camcorder on one hand and mounts her bike.

It’s not long until she hears the thumping of Cybertronian feet coming down the hallway, followed by a voice that sounds like Ratchet’s. She pushes record on the camcorder and takes up her place next to the door. The double doors swing open into the room as Ratchet and Bumblebee enter, hiding Ari from view.

“What in the name of Primus is going on here?” Ratchet roars. He and Bumblebee walk fully into the room and the doors close. She points the camera to catch Ratchet’s completely shocked face, mouth hanging open, as he passes her by without noticing her. Still pointing the camera Ari inches towards the door on her bike. Ratchet starts talking really fast in Cybertronian and Ari tries to quietly smother her laughter. Bumblebee doesn’t even try and his whirling sounds jingle like laughter. As Ratchet starts going around the room, ripping duct tape off of his equipment, Ari slips her camcorder back in her bag and rides away from the med bay as fast as she can before she’s seen.

She finds Sideswipe and Sunstreaker waiting for her in their room with wide grins on their faces. “Well?” Sideswipe asks.

She returns their grin and shows them the video on her camera. “It was absolutely _hilarious_.”

They watch the video, laughing the entire time, until they hear rapid banging coming closer and closer, an Autobot running their way. Ari quickly puts the camera away and they settle down on the berths with Ari perched on Sideswipe’s knee, acting like they’d been there the entire time.

Ratchet crashes through the door, rage burning in his optics. She half expects steam to be coming out of his ears but then remembers that he doesn’t exactly have ears.

“Why is my med bay covered in duct tape?” Ratchet asks, his voice deathly quiet which is almost scarier than him yelling.

Sideswipe puts a hand on her shoulder in reassurance, a silent sign for her to stay quiet. “I don’t know,” he says. “We’ve been here the entire time. Right, Sunny?”

“Yep,” Sunstreaker says. The twins have lying down to an art. She knows they must want to laugh at Ratchet’s reaction right now but they stay so composed.

Ratchet looks at her and she goes still, pulling on her mask of calm that she’s had years of practice making for dealing with Ron.

“Is this true, Ari?” Ratchet asks her and she simply nods. He narrows his optics at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Ratchet,” she says. “All three of us have been in here.”

He looks between the three of them suspiciously. Then, without saying another word, he leaves. As soon as he’s out of hearing range they burst into laughter.

“Oh, Primus,” Ari says between giggles, wiping at her eyes to wipe the tears away. “That was great.”

“See, I told you you’d like it,” Sideswipe says happily.

“Yeah, I really did. And by this time tomorrow everyone who goes into the rec room will see this video and love it, too.”

* * *

Starscream stands at the entrance to a series of caves in the Nevada desert. The sun set long ago on a day Starscream is far from pleased with.

An Autobot ship containing seven Autobots has landed on Earth. Not many Decepticons have arrived on Earth yet, they are slowly trickling to the pathetic planet, and the thought that the Autobots now greatly outnumber them sets his teeth on edge. They have been testing the Autobots’ defenses for the past several weeks and they do not stand a chance with the numbers they have now. It is a great disappointment. If Megatron were here Starscream would be beaten for sure, but he will not think about that. He _will_ do better than Megatron. Megatron got himself offlined for running into battles head first. No, this will take cunning. Skill. Planning. An edge of deception.

And he’ll do whatever it takes to get the Witwicky girl.

Barricade drives up out of the darkness and transforms to stand before Starscream, his red optics gleaming. “Lord Starscream,” Barricade growls. “I have news. Scalpel has arrived on Earth.” He opens his hand to reveal the little crab-like Decepticon in his palm.

Starscream grins. “Doctor, you have arrived just in time.”

“So it vould seem, Shtarscream,” Scalpel says, his German-sounding accent thick. “Barricade vas just telling me of a fery interestink human you have been pursuing.”

“Yes, we believe something has happened to her. Perhaps something having to do with the AllSpark.”

“Hm, interestink, fery interestink. I vould like to shtudy zis human.”

“I would like that as well, but we have yet to locate their base. All we know is that it’s out in the desert, but anyone following would be instantly spotted. And those blasted twins are with her everywhere else she goes. With our numbers still so small it will be impossible to take her.”

“I do not need vor you to take her. Not yet. You just get me close enough vor a blood sample.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil grin* I like next chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	23. They Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, just as promised, here is another chapter! I was really determined to post today because...today is my birthday! Doesn't really feel like my birthday but maybe if I say it enough times it'll start to. I will accept presents in the form of comments/kudos/bookmarks/subscriptions. ;)
> 
> This chapter things get a bit exciting again. Because I can never keep things going calm and fluffy for very long. What can I say, I like excitement and danger.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The Decepticons have been strangely quiet lately. It’s putting everyone at N.E.S.T. on edge. Decepticons don’t just give up. They must be up to something, but going from randomly popping up to complete silence? No one can figure out what could possibly be next. Either way, Optimus is taking every precaution, including having Ironhide stay with Ari whenever she’s away from base, which, with school and work, is most of the time. Now she has three Autobots following her around. They’re worried of the day the Decepticons find out what she is now. She is, too, but as she glances in Sideswipe’s rearview mirror while on the way to school one morning and sees Sunstreaker and Ironhide following behind she can’t help but wonder if it isn’t a little excessive.

“It’s for your own safety, Ari,” Sideswipe reminds her, his voice coming from the radio.

“I know,” she says, “but, seriously, what are the odds that they would come after me? I mean, they have no idea about the AllSpark.”

“We can’t just assume that. Everyone saw what happened during the Battle of Mission City. The AllSpark reacted to you in ways it never did with anyone else before. You also give off AllSpark radiation that wasn’t always shielded.”

Ari fingers the pendant hanging around her neck that Ratchet gave her. “It _was_ a few days before I got this. But do you really think any Decepticons got close enough to sense me during that time?”

“Who knows? They could have easily masked their signals from us, so it’s possible.” Sideswipe pulls into the student parking lot at the school and parks. “Anyway, none of us are willing to risk it.” The seat belt tightens slightly before releasing. “We will do whatever it takes to protect you, Ari. Including taking precautions when they might not be needed.”

Ari smiles, grabbing her backpack. “Thanks. See you at lunch?”

“You know it.” Sideswipe opens his door for her. “See ya later.”

“Bye.” Ari gets out and heads towards the school, but along the way something shiny and black catches her eye. There’s a really expensive black car in the parking lot, over in the section where the teachers park near the school entrance. It’s a Mustang, she can tell from the horse logo on the grill, but that’s about all she can tell. A lot fancier than any high school teacher would ever be able to afford. She wonders if there’s some kind of school board executive visiting today or something, but thinks no more on it as the bell rings and she rushes inside to get to class.

Ari keeps her ears open as she goes through her classes. By now things have calmed down about what happened with Ron and her having a new car, so she has faded into the background again, just the way she likes it. It’s surprising what can be overheard when no one notices one’s existence. Like the fact that there is a substitute teacher on campus today, one who’s never been to Tranquility High before. It’s probably this sub who owns the Mustang. He must have had a very nice job before becoming a sub, though.

She meets him whenever she enters her AP Biology class. Instead of their sixty-year-old teacher who can’t see past the first two rows of lab tables there is a man in his mid-thirties sitting ramrod straight at the teacher’s desk. As soon as she walks in the room his eyes snap to her, a light brown that looks almost red. His bushy black hair and mustache coupled with his almost expressionless face make him look like he’s going to be a strict sub and that this class is going to be anything but laid-back today. She quickly makes her way to her seat, hoping the class goes by fast. His eyes stay locked on her the entire time before the bell rings. It is very unnerving.

When everyone is settled he stands. “Hello, hu- _class_ ,” he says, his voice sounding bored, like he wishes he were anywhere else but here. “My name is Mr. Caid.” He points to the chalkboard where his name is written out. “Your teacher called in sick this morning so I will be your substitute for today. Since it was so last minute we are going to be doing something simple: a blood type test.”

Mr. Caid picks up a stack of white cards on the desk and starts passing them out. It’s strange that they’re doing something so…rudimentary…in an AP Biology class. This is more like something that they’d be doing in a middle school science class. And they were working on evolution before, so to suddenly switch to something that would probably fall under anatomy? She shares a confused look with the other girl sitting at her lab table but takes the card anyway. It’s not like there’s any point in questioning it.

“Alright, class,” Mr. Caid says, “each of you has been given a special card with four circles labeled Anti-A, Anti-B, Anti-D, and Control. Each of these circles contains antibodies that will react with the antigens in your blood. Based on which antibodies your blood reacts with you will be able to determine your blood type. I am now going to come around to put droplets of water on your cards and to give you lancets to prick your fingers.”

Mr. Caid sounds and looks like a zombie. He’s completely lifeless as he goes around the room, very much a man who does not like his job. He even sneers at some of the students who accidentally touch him. If he doesn’t like being a sub, then why is he? He must have plenty of money considering the car he has.

With the supplies all handed out, including a handout containing the information needed for them to determine which blood type they are, Ari and the other students begin the test. The prick is slightly painful but nothing compared to what Ratchet has had her endure in the past and a few minutes later it is already healed, which hopefully no one will notice. When the test is complete Ari looks between her card and the handout.

Her test is inconclusive.

Honestly, it’s not really surprising. The AllSpark has changed her in so many ways, including, apparently, her blood. She wonders, if it were ever needed, her body would be able to accept a blood transfusion. Although, with her ability to heal more quickly now, she probably won’t ever be _that_ severely injured.

Anyway, the test is a bust for her and when the bell rings she quickly starts to pack up her things.

“Everyone, please turn in your cards before you go,” Mr. Caid calls out so as to be heard over the voices of the students. Everyone slows in their movements a little and then grab their cards to place on the teacher’s desk next to the big shiny microscope that she’s actually never noticed before.

It’s an odd thing to ask for, their cards. What good would they do now? Ari grabs her own card and approaches the desk. “Um, sir?”

“Yes?” Mr. Caid says, sounding a bit short.

“Um, why do you need our cards back?”

“The hu-” he pauses, clearing his throat. “Your teacher asked me to collect them so that he knows everyone did the project.”

“What, he doesn’t trust you to just mark down who was here to do it?”

He takes her card from her hand but doesn’t add it to the pile, she notices. “Something like that.” He turns around to erase the board, giving Ari the distinct impression that she is dismissed, so she shoulders her bag and leaves. She heads to her locker to grab her lunch box since she has lunch now and excitement fills her like it always does at this time of day. Since that first day Sideswipe has joined her for lunch every day at school. He’s almost been caught a few times, but honestly, it’s been worth it. She’s enjoyed having the company, especially since it’s his.

However, when she’s halfway down the hallway she realizes she’s forgotten her notebook so with a deep sigh she heads back to the classroom as her mind tries to formulate the awkward words she’s going to say to Mr. Caid.

When she opens the classroom door Ari freezes in the doorway. The microscope is gone now. Now standing on the desk is a crab-like robot. A Cybertronian, if Ari had to guess. She looks back and forth between the Cybertronian and Mr. Caid. He’s completely unfazed by the presence of the Cybertronian. Actually, Mr. Caid is whispering quietly to him. They have yet to notice her and they seem to be looking at one of blood test cards.

When the Cybertronian turns around and looks right at her with his red optics she knows the card is hers.

“Grab zee human!” the Cybertronian says and Mr. Caid lunges out and grabs her forearm tightly, dragging her further into the classroom before she can do anything. Her backpack slips off of her shoulders and falls on the floor with a thud. She opens her mouth to scream but then Mr. Caid wraps one arm around her middle, pulling her close so that her back presses against his front, and uses his other hand to cover her mouth. She thrashes around, trying to get free, but she can’t. Her arms are pinned to her sides and he’s just too strong.

“Too bad, human,” Mr. Caid hisses in her ear. “We weren’t planning on taking you yet but it seems we have no choice.”

_Oh my Primus. Mr. Caid. Caid. Cade. Barricade._

Barricade’s holoform chuckles. “After dispatching that human teacher of yours, sneaking myself and Scalpel here into the school under those pathetic Autoscums’ noses was too easy.”

“Gettink vat vee needed vas also quite simple,” Scalpel says. “Vee haf no real need for zee blood test. Just zee blood sample.” He holds the card containing her blood closer to him for inspection. “It is quite fascinatink. Zee blood seems to be kontaminated with AllShpark radiation. Tell me, human, vhy is zat?”

Barricade removes his hand from her mouth so she can talk. She glares at them defiantly. “I’m not telling you slag.”

“It is no matter.” Scalpel holds up one of his legs, his very sharp, knife-like legs. Ari’s feels herself turn cold. “I vill find out for myself. Surgery kan be quite tellink.”

“I don’t think so.” Ari stomps down on Barricade’s foot and he lets out a yelp, his grip on her loosening. She takes advantage and bites down hard on the arm holding her. He yelps again and his arm releases her. Without pausing for a second Ari dashes towards the door. As soon as she’s through her hand reaches under her shirt, grabs her pendant, and presses the red button to call for help. There’s a loud, angry rev coming from outside and she runs straight for it as fast as she can. A clacking sound makes her look behind her. The clacking is the sound of Scalpel’s claws on the tile floor as he scrambles after her. She bursts through the door and out into the courtyard, slamming it shut behind her.

“Sideswipe!” she yells as she run towards the student parking lot. She hears the door open behind her and she calls out again, “Sideswipe!”

She hears the thumping of Cybertronian feet and then Sideswipe appears from around the cafeteria. “Ari!”

She grins but then she sees something black and shiny behind him. “Sideswipe, behind you!”

Sideswipe turns just in time to see Barricade launch himself into the air. The two Cybertronians collide and go tumbling to the ground as they begin to grapple. Screaming draws Ari’s attention to the cafeteria. The students who had been sitting on the outside benches eating lunch look on in shock at the fighting robots. Sideswipe gets in a well-placed punch which causes Barricade to roll off of him.

“Don’t just stand there!” Ari yells at the students who have yet to move. “Run! Get inside!”

Barricade quickly gets to his feet and readies his blaster. He starts firing, Sideswipe managing to dodge and roll away from the blasts. Everyone finally starts screaming again and they run into the cafeteria, their voices echoing around the courtyard as so many people try to fit through the doors at once.

Something hard and metal rams into Ari’s side, sending her down to the concrete. Scalpel is on top of her, his legs digging into her skin to pin her down. One of his arms comes up to caress the side of her face and she tries to move her head away. “Now, let’s find out vat’s so shpecial about you.”

“Get _off_!” Ari lashes out, her fist connecting with his head, and he goes flying. Ironhide and Sunstreaker skid into the parking lot and transform to stand alongside Sideswipe as she gets her feet under her. All three of them fire on Barricade, pushing him back and away from the school. Scalpel starts to get back up and Ari runs, not stopping until she’s standing at the Autobots’ feet.

“Sideswipe!” Ironhide yells. “Get Ari out of here!”

Without another word Sideswipe picks her up, races towards the exit of the student parking lot, transforms, and speeds away from the ongoing battle. Ari ends up in the driver’s seat with the seatbelt snapping tightly into place. The belt squeezes her as if Sideswipe’s trying to give her the tightest hug imaginable and Ari grabs the belt with both hands just as hard as if trying to hug back.

“Ari, are you okay?” Sideswipe asks.

She tightens her grip on the seatbelt, not answering.

“Ari, look at me.” Sideswipe’s voice is now coming from beside her, not the radio. She turns her head and his holoform is now sitting in the passenger seat, his brow furrowed with worry. “Are you okay?”

She takes a deep breath. Holds it. Exhales. “I-I think so. I just…really never thought they’d come after me. At least not this soon.”

“What did they want?”

“They know.”

Sideswipe’s eyes widen in shock.

“No everything,” she corrects, “but enough. They knew something had happened to me and they came here to find out what.”

“How much do they know?”

“I don’t know. Barricade posed as a substitute teacher. He brought another Decepticon with him. A little guy. Barricade called him Scalpel.”

Sideswipe growls angrily. “He’s the Decepticons’ med bot, but he’s more interested in taking bots apart than putting them back together.”

Ari gulps heavily. “He seemed pretty interested in taking _me_ apart.”

Sideswipe takes her hand in his, squeezes. “So long as I’m online that’s not going to happen.”

“Thanks,” she says with a small smile. “Luckily he didn’t get that far. But they did get a blood sample. How much will they be able to tell by that?”

“Not sure. We’ll have to ask Ratchet.”

* * *

“They won’t be able to tell everything just from your blood,” Ratchet says after Ari finishes explaining what happened at school. The Autobots, Ari, Will, and Rob are all gathered around in the main hanger. Ari sits atop Sideswipe’s forearm, his other arm holding her close. Her feet have yet to touch the ground since leaving the school and she has no mind to change that anytime soon. She feels safe in Sideswipe’s arms. Safe is what she really needs right now.

“What _can_ they tell from her blood?” Optimus asks.

Ratchet rubs his chin thoughtfully. “Well, they’ll be able to tell that she has a better immune system, that her body heals faster than normal humans. Basically, they’ll be able to tell most of the changes that have happened to her body, but not the cause. Unless they put two and two together. They _will_ be able to tell she is giving off AllSpark radiation. I don’t think they could possibly guess she’s absorbed the AllSpark just based on that but,” he turns his optics on Ari, filled with worry, “they will be curious, now more than ever, about what’s going on with you. I’m sorry, little one, but it is very likely they will try again.”

Ari leans her head against Sideswipe’s chassis, closing her eyes. She can feel the heat and the faintest inkling of emotion coming from his spark. She focuses on it, allows it to flow over her and soak into her skin, until she feels the residual fear leave her. She has the Autobots on her side. She has her pendant. It worked. It called the Autobots to her and they kept her safe. They will always keep her safe, especially Sideswipe. Whatever happens, she’ll be okay. She’s in good hands.

But they had been so close.

She opens her eyes and asks, “So what happens now? A good portion of the student body just saw an alien showdown with one of the aliens driving off with me.”

“No, they didn’t.” Everyone turns to the entrance of the hanger. Agent Coulson is walking towards them. He climbs up the scaffold to stand next to Will and Rob and nods to them. “Major Lennox. Sergeant Epps.”

Will nods back. “Agent Coulson. You here to help us sweep all this under the rug?”

“Something like that. Galloway wanted to come and handle it himself, but Director Fury… _convinced_ the World Security Council against it.”

Ari gives him a big grin. “Thank Primus for that. He doesn’t like me very much and probably likes me even less after what happened.”

“I wouldn’t take it personally. He doesn’t seem to like anybody very much.”

“Well, at least it’s not just me,” Ari says with a chuckle. “So, what were you saying before?”

“Right. I’ve already been by the school. No one got a good look at you or the car leaving the scene. They were too focused on the giant robots duking it out or running to safety. And if anyone ever does bring it up we have an alibi already prepared for you. You were in the guidance office talking with your councilor about possible college options.”

“What about Mr. Caid?”

“He ran away with everyone else. I don’t think he’ll be subbing at that school again.”

“And has anyone…,” Ari swallows heavily. “Has anyone been to my biology teacher’s house? The way Barricade made it sound…I-I think he’s dead.”

“No, this is news to us. I’ll have a couple of agents go over there as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” Ari says quietly.

“Hey,” Will calls up to her. “Even if he is dead, it ain’t your fault, kid. None of this is your fault.”

“He’s right, Ms. Lennox,” Agent Coulson says. “It’s the Decepticons’ fault. They did this.”

Ari shakes her head. “But they wouldn’t have if they weren’t coming after me.”

“You can’t control other people’s actions. They could have gone after you about a dozen different ways without shedding blood or causing an incident, but they did. It seems to me that that’s how they prefer to do things, so that the most amount of people suffer. Don’t blame yourself for the things you can’t control. They wanted this, not you.”

Ari smiles softly. “Thank you, Agent Coulson. So how are you going to cover up the rest of it?”

“Stark tech. Some new, advanced drillers maybe. They were doing testing out in the desert when there was a malfunction and they wandered into Tranquility.”

“Think people will buy it?”

“They will. Most people would rather believe that they were drillers instead of the possibility that there is something so dangerous out there. This isn’t our first rodeo.”

That makes Ari pause. Just how many times has Agent Coulson had to make up stories like this? How many times has something dangerous happened and she just not know about it?

“But what about Mr. Stark?” Rob asks. “He won’t exactly be happy you’re using him as an excuse. Probably won’t appreciate the bad publicity either.”

Ari swears Agent Coulson smirks a little but with a face like his it’s hard to tell. “I’ve already handled it. Or at least, Stark’s assistant, Pepper Pots, has handled it. Her power to deal with Stark amazes me sometimes. She was more than willing to help.” He starts moving towards the scaffold stairs. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to base. I just wanted to check and make sure everyone was okay.”

“Thank you for your help, Agent Coulson,” Ari says with a wave.

Coulson pauses halfway down the stairs and looks back up at her. “Ms. Lennox, I don’t why the Decepticons came after you today but I get the feeling it’s more than just simply revenge.”

Ari goes still. She’s knows that’s what Will told S.H.I.E.L.D. whenever he notified them of the situation but she didn’t think they’d be suspicious.

“I don’t know what it is you’re keeping from us,” Coulson continues. “The Council seems to know, but no matter how much Director Fury asks they refuse to hand over your file.”

“I have a file?” she asks curiously, strangely pleased at the idea.

“Yes, you do, but that’s beside the point. The point is, we know you’re hiding something, Ms. Lennox. And Director Fury wanted me to tell you that if you ever need any help, we’ll be there. Your life was put in grave danger today. If we had known what’s really going on, then maybe it could have been prevented. We _can_ be trusted, Ms. Lennox. I hope you know that.”

Ari looks up at Sideswipe. “Put me down, Sides.” He sets her on the scaffold and she climbs down the stairs until she is looking level with Coulson a couple steps above him. “I do trust you, Agent Coulson. But there are some people who cannot be trusted.”

“You fear for your safety?”

“Yes. It’s nothing personal, but no one can know.”

Coulson just stares at her, silent, expressionless. “Alright, Ms. Lennox. You can keep your secret. For now, we’ll trust you to know what’s best for you.”

She smiles, relieved. “Thank you, Agent Coulson. And please, call me Ari.”

Coulson holds out a hand and Ari tentatively but firmly shakes it. “Then, Ari, please call me Phil.”

* * *

The sun is setting by the time Barricade and Scalpel make it back to the caves the Decepticons are calling their base for now. Barricade makes his way straight to the self-proclaimed leader of the Decepticons. He transforms before Starscream but does not bow as everyone did to Megatron.

Starscream sneers at him. “Barricade. Scalpel. Report.”

Scalpel crawls his way up to Barricade’s shoulder. “Vee got the girl’s blood. Zere is somesing shtrange about her blood zat is different from normal humans. Most importantly, her blood gives off AllShpark radiation.”

Starscream’s optics narrow. “How is this possible?”

“We don’t know.” Barricade says. “I scanned her myself. She wasn’t giving off radiation, but her blood is.”

“She must have a cloaking devise of some kind. It seems the AllSpark did something to her. If it’s so important that the Autobots hide it, then it must be something,” Starscream grins, his pointed teeth reflecting the fading light, “useful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the Decepticons know for certain now that something is up with Ari. How long will it be until they try again? You'll just have to wait and see because I return to fluff next chapter. And you'll probably have a love/hate relationship with the next chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	24. Dreams and Mistletoe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Midnight hit just a little while ago where I live. I wasn't sure if I'd have time during actual Christmas Day to post so I though I'd do it now.
> 
> I like this chapter. And it's appropriate! I didn't realize it would match up this perfectly until I pulled it up to post. But some of you probably won't like me. :3
> 
> Anyway, go onward and enjoy!

"Psst. Ari," a voice whispers near Ari's head. It's a familiar voice but she can't find it in herself to care. Her bed is just too comfortable. She turns over, away from the voice, and burrows deeper into her cocoon of blankets and pillows. Something pokes her in the back. "Ari. Come on, Ari, it's time to get up."

She groans. She doesn't want to get up. She wants to sleep.

The something pokes her again. "Ari, you were the one who told me how exciting Christmas is for humans. You were excited last night. What happened?"

She groans again and tries to get her brain to focus a little. Christmas. The thing said something about Christmas. Her eyes snap open and she quickly sits up in bed with a gasp. "It's Christmas!" she exclaims happily.

Sideswipe laughs from where he stands next to her bed. "Yes, it's Christmas. Now hurry up so you can see what Sandy Claws brought you."

"Santa Clause. Sandy Claws was from _Nightmare Before Christmas_. Jack just misheard the name."

"Whatever, whatever, now come on, let's go." Sideswipe rushes towards the door with a big smile on his face.

Ari flings the covers off and gets out of bed, reaching into the top drawer of her nightstand to grab her brush. "Sounds like you're even more excited than I am."

He grins at her. "I don't know. You were near bouncing off the walls last night."

"Well, you know," she runs the brush through her hair, focusing on her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, "this is my first Christmas."

And it is, her first real Christmas. Since her mom left. This is the first holiday season she's actually gotten to enjoy. Sure, there was a time before everything got bad, but the memories of a four-year-old girl don't last. They've faded into glimpses and fogy images. Now, she has an actual family who care about her. She really enjoyed Thanksgiving, everyone gathering around the table to enjoy a good meal, Autobots included although they had cubes of energon instead of turkey. She got to see the new Autobots' holoforms for the first time. Bumblebee's is blond, around the same age as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker with a boyish smile. Jolt is probably late twenties, early thirties, with neat brown hair. The twins, Skids and Mudflap, are both roughly sixteen with crazy, short red hair sticking up all over the place and crooked front teeth. Chromia, Arcee, and Moonracer are absolutely beautiful. Early forties, if that, with silky, black hair each cut in a different style. Moonracer's is pixie-cut short. Arcee's is shoulder length and choppy. And Chromia's flows straight down to her waist. Anyway, having them all together for Thanksgiving was a lot of fun.

But there is just something about Christmas that is so much more…magical. Like anything is possible. And for someone who has had so many things not possible, Christmas really is something special.

Sideswipe walks up behind her and places his hands on her shoulders. "And it'll be the best Christmas ever." Their eyes meet in the mirror. "I'll make sure of it."

"You don't have to go to such great lengths, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"You do so much for me. Always making sure I'm happy. Helping me to do things that I never got an opportunity to do…before. You don't have to do all of that for me."

"Of course I do. I'm your Guardian."

"Yeah, you are, but that just means you keep me out of harm's way."

One of his hands slides off her shoulder, down her bare arm, and clasps her hand, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. "Sadness can be harmful."

She squeezes his hand. "Yes, it can be, but still, you don't need to do so much for me. Just being with you makes me happy and that's all I need."

As soon as the words are out she wants to take them back, but they feel so right. But they also cause her cheeks to light up bright red and she has to look away from him. Still, they feel so right. She knows that, no matter what happens to her, so long as Sideswipe is by her side, she won't need anything or anyone else.

Sideswipe squeezes her hand. "Hey, look at me." She raises her eyes to his again and they are so blue and so bright with his smile that it takes her breath away. "I'm happy being with you, too. But I also love seeing you happy. I loved the look on your face when you rode a bike for the first time. Or when you swam on your own for the first time. Or whenever you make progress being touched by other people. Your happiness makes me happy, Ari. And if I have a chance to bring you any more happiness, then I will."

Ari grins and leans back until her back is pressed against his front and her head rests on his shoulder. "Thank you, Sideswipe. I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

"You don't ever have to thank me for that." He moves towards the door, tugging on her hand. "Now, come on, let's go."

She plants her feet and tugs back. "But I'm still in my pajamas. Let me change first."

He rolls his eyes. "Alright, but hurry up."

As soon as Ari is in some sweats and a tee she rushes down the stairs. Will, Sarah, Annabelle, and all of the Autobots are gathered in the living room where the huge Christmas tree stands, decorated in more ornaments than Ari has ever seen and had the pleasure of helping to put on just a week after Thanksgiving, and with dozens of presents resting at the base just waiting to be opened. Ari had explained the human tradition of Christmas to the Autobots about a month ago. Although they were confused about Santa Clause, first thinking him to be a real person and then wondering why humans would lie to their children, they expressed a wish to participate in the holiday. Ari is sure they'll enjoy it. Gift giving is something Cybertronians are familiar with, but most, if not all, of their personal belongings were left behind when they had to flee Cybertron. They have nothing to call their own. Their rooms at the base are bare of any personal touches such as pictures or small tokens that have meaning to them. She hopes that, over time, they'll gather new things that'll mean something special to them.

Even though all their gifts from humans are going to be really, really small for them.

Greetings and Merry Christmases are passed around and then Ari settles herself on the floor in front of the tree where Annabelle, who turned one just a few weeks ago, is inspecting the presents curiously. She's balanced wobbly on her stubby little legs as she moves from one present to the next. Ari grabs her around the waist and lifts her up to sit on her lap, eliciting a little giggle from the girl. "Not all of those presents are for you, you know. Though I get the feeling a lot of them are. You are going to be such a spoiled little girl, I can already tell."

Will laughs as he sits down beside her. "You're probably not wrong. So, should we get started?"

"Can I give Annabelle mine first?"

"Sure. Which one is it?"

"That one over there." She points to a present with no discernible shape wrapped in blue paper with a snowflake print. Will grabs it and hands it to her. Annabelle looks at it curiously as Ari hold it at the little girl's feet. Slowly she helps the girl unwrap the present until a stuffed bear as big as Annabelle is revealed with soft brown fur and a big red bow. Annabelle is far from being able to talk yet, but by the sounds she's making and the way she brings the bear close it looks like she's happy with her present, bringing a soft smile to Ari's face.

"Can Sunny and I give our gift to Ari next?" Sideswipe asks

Ari hands Annabelle off to Will and then goes to sit between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker on the sofa. "Alright, what did you get me?"

Will tosses Sideswipe a box from under the tree wrapped in silver paper with a yellow bow on top. Sides hands it it her. "This is from both of us."

Ari quickly rips through the paper and takes the top off the box. Inside rests two silver circlet bracelets each embedded with a blue rhinestone. She carefully lifts one out of the box, surprised at how light the circlet it. "They're beautiful," she whispers.

"Put them on and we'll show you what they do," Sunstreaker says.

She gives him a quizzical look. "The bracelets _do_ something?"

"Yep. Now put them on."

She does so, one on each wrist. They fit loosely, but not too much, so that they don't feel like they'll accidentally slide off over her hands. Each twin takes one of her hands and presses the blue stone on each bracelet. The stones turn out to be buttons, and when they depress they activate something in the bracelets. They tick for a second and then the bracelets enclose around her wrists until the metal is snug, so snug that they won't move an inch, though not enough to hurt, and the breaks in the circlets snap together creating solid circles. A couple more clicks and a foot long blade snaps out of each bracelet. Ari holds them up, fists clenched. "They remind me of your blades."

"We thought," Sideswipe says, "that after what happened at your school, it would be best if you had something to defend yourself with."

"Most people would just get me pepper spray or a taser."

"What if something happens too quickly and you can't get to them in time? And pepper spray and tasers are obvious weapons. If you're captured they would be taken away. These are discrete and you can have them on you at all times."

On a hunch Ari pushes the stones again and they snap back into normal bracelets. "Very cool. Thank you."

"This is actually a good lead in to my present," Chromia says and she gets up to grab a box wrapped in red, handing it to Ari.

Ari unwraps the present and opens the box to find several pairs of yoga pants, close-fitted tees, and sports bras. She looks up at Chromia curiously. "Workout clothes?"

Chromia nods. "Ironhide and I have also been thinking after what happened at your school. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have the right idea, you need a better way to protect yourself if we cannot get to you in time, but simply having a weapon is not good enough if an enemy is more skilled than you. And you do not know how to properly fight with those blades either. Ironhide and I would like to teach you in hand-to-hand combat."

Anxiety ripples through Ari's stomach as she looks back and forth between Chromia and Sideswipe. Learning hand-to-hand is going to require a lot of physical touch, some of which her body is not going to be comfortable with doing. "I-I don't know if I can."

Chromia squats down in front of her. "I know your inability to physically touch other people can be quite a handicap, but any assailants are not going to care. They will attack you without prejudice. I know Sideswipe has been helping you in social situations, but you need to start overcoming this ingrained fear in combat situations as well. Your safety could depend on it."

Physical interaction is still so hard for her. She still can't even hug someone without feeling trapped and cornered. All other interaction, well, it's mainly only Sideswipe she can do those things with. She feels the most comfortable with him, she trusts him more than anyone else, so her body has become comfortable with touching him and being touched by him. Other people are still hard most of the time. So to start learning how to fight, which will require a lot of touching, is going to be hard.

But it's like Chromia said. Her life could depend on it.

And she doesn't want this insecurity to hold her back and control her life.

Ari nods. "Alright. I'll do it."

Chromia smiles softly. "Excellent. We'll talk about schedules later. For now, let us enjoy Christmas."

They continue exchanging gifts, one of the gifts Ari is most excited about being a new laptop Will and Sarah got her. She thanks them about a thousand times. Her old computer is a clunky dinosaur and really, really slow. Doing homework is going to be so much easier now.

When all the gifts are given they gather around the table for a big lunch of ham, mashed potatoes, and so much other food that, by the time the meal is over, Ari feels like she is going to burst at the seams. Then for the rest of the day they sit around and talk to each other. There are laughs, more than one fight broken up between the smaller twins, and many smiles. Ari captures a lot of it with her camcorder, not wanting to miss a second of it. She wants to remember this moment for the rest of her life. Just the sheer happiness she feels in the people around her and in herself, she _has_ to capture it all to remind herself that it's all real. That it isn't a dream.

Though if it were a dream she doesn't ever want to wake up.

Night falls and the Autobots are still here. At one point Sideswipe elbows her and asks, "Want to head out?"

She knows he means their nightly stargazing and nods. Her, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker head for the door, Ari and Sideswipe reaching it at the same time. They both chuckle and Ari allows Sideswipe to get the door, but before he opens it Sunstreaker says. "Uh, hey guys?"

Ari and Sideswipe look back at him. "What?" Sides asks.

Sunstreaker is looking above them and points. The two of them follow is gaze to see mistletoe hanging above their heads. Ari stares at it in shock and her stomach drops.

"Mistletoe is a Christmas tradition, right?" Jolt asks. "Aren't the two people caught underneath supposed to kiss?"

"But where did it come from?" Moonracer asks. "It wasn't there before."

Skids and Mudflap laugh, clapping high-fives. "Aw, yeah!" Skids says. "Gotcha! Now yo two gotta kiss. Pucker up!"

Arcee goes up to the two of them and roughly knock their heads together.

"Ow, you crazy femme!" Mudflap yells, rubbing his head just like his brother. "What was that fo'?"

"That," Arcee says, "was for being idiots. What part of Ari has problems with physical touch don't you understand?"

"It's okay, Arcee," Ari says. Her cheeks are flaring up again and it feels like there is a flock of birds fluttering around her stomach. A part of her is really scared to kiss Sideswipe, knows she can't, that as soon as his lips get anywhere close to hers she's going to freak out. The memory of what Ron did to her is still too fresh, her brain still too scarred.

But another part of her really wants to kiss him as well.

Sideswipe looks at her worriedly. "We don't have to do this. They're just being idiots."

"No!" she says quickly and she clears her throat. "No, it's okay. I-It's tradition, after all."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah."

Sideswipe gives her a cautious look and then he takes a step closer to her so there is only inches between them. One of his hands comes up to cup her cheek. His head slowly lowers, all the while his eyes locked with hers, searching. The closer he gets, just as she thought, the more she wants to run away. A picture of Ron's face coming closer and closer to her flashes in her mind and her breath hitches, stops. Sideswipe pauses for a moment, having heard her. He starts coming closer to her, but instead of her lips, he places a gentle kiss on her cheek. His mouth feels soft and warm. As she hears the smaller twins' groans of disappointment a part of her is relieved Sideswipe didn't actually kiss her.

But when he pulls away and she feels his absence she becomes aware of her lips slightly tingling and a part of her wishes he did really kiss her. That part of her yearns for it.

When Sideswipe transforms and lifts her up into his arms so that the three of them can go out to their usual spot she looks up into his face when he isn't looking. She can feel it again, a tingling brushing across her lips. That part of her still wants him to kiss her, even in his true form. It isn't just because she finds his holoform cute and he had been really close to her just moments ago.

She wanted to kiss Sideswipe. And not just because he was in holoform, she wants to kiss Sideswipe because he's Sideswipe, no matter the form.

Okay, so she wants to kiss Sideswipe. What does it mean? He's her Guardian and her best friend. She wants to kiss her best friend?

She can feel emotions blooming in her chest, emotions she knows she's been keeping back for the longest time though not entirely knowing why, but now she allows them to surface, needing to understand her own heart.

She likes being with Sideswipe, a lot, she already knew that, but it's not just because he is the first friend she's had in a long time. She likes being with him because he is kind and he makes her laugh. He knows when she is feeling down and he always finds a way to lift her back up. He chases the monsters away whenever she has nightmares. He gives the best hugs in the world that no human could ever possibly give her. He'll listen to her rave about the books she's read and will even read them himself just so that he can better discuss them with her. They have the same taste in movies and whenever they watch them at home with a bag of popcorn they almost always end up having a popcorn fight even though Ari is the only one who actually eats it.

He knows her inside and out, scars and all, and accepts every part of her. Even the parts she's always thought of as unwanted.

She knows all of him, too, and she realizes she more than just likes it.

And that realization scares her to her core. Because there is no way she and Sideswipe can ever be more than what they are now. They are two different species. She has no problem with it, but Sideswipe probably would. It probably isn't even possible for him to be with someone outside his own species. Cybertronians each have a specific person they're supposed to be with, their sparks searching for a specific spark. And it is only with that one other spark that they can bond with. Cybertronians have soul mates, sparkmates, and Ari can never be that for him. Meaning there is some femme out there somewhere who Sideswipe is supposed to be with.

And it can never be her.

All of a sudden she wishes she were alone right now, but she just focuses on the sky as she lays atop Sideswipe's chassis, focusing on the constellations, singling them out one by one, naming them, until the tears subside and the emotions are smothered down, folded up, and locked behind a new door that she will never, ever open again.

It'll all just stay a dream.

* * *

Sideswipe is feeling very confused about this human girl he's come to care so much about.

He thought the tradition of mistletoe was silly at first, something used to trick people into kissing each other. Might be a nice prank if it's two people who don't like each other, but it's just a plant. What power does a plant hold over people to force them to kiss? That's why he told Ari they didn't have to do it, especially since she still has a hard time with touch. He's helped her get pretty far, she's come a long way with casual touches, but she still can't even be hugged. So to kiss someone? After what her parental unit did to her? No, he knew she wasn't ready for something like that.

What confuses him, though, is that, whenever his face was close to hers right before he went to kiss her cheek, he wanted to kiss her lips. He longed to. Still does, actually, even now. Which is strange. Kissing isn't something Cybertronians do. It is a human show of affection.

He wants to show _Ari_ affection, Sideswipe realizes. And not the kind he would show to a friend. There is a deep longing in his spark. It is something he's never felt before, only ever heard of from other people. By Ironhide and Chromia. By Optimus Prime and Elita One. It almost feels like his spark is calling to her, like it wants her to be his sparkmate.

But that's not possible. Ari is human. She doesn't have a spark.

But he cannot deny this feeling in his spark.

Ari shivers from where she lays on his chassis. The night is growing cold. He covers her with his hands, holding her close, wondering what she would say if he told her what he is thinking and feeling now.

She would be disgusted. How could she ever fall for someone so completely different than herself? She needs someone like her, a human, with a human size and a human lifespan. Someone she can grow old with. Someone who can give her children. He's seen her with Annabelle. She would be a wonderful mom. He can't give her any of that. No matter how much he tries, he can never give her the same kind of happiness another human can, the kind of happiness she deserves.

Sideswipe and Ari can never be together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm horrible! I'm sorry, but I'm not going to make it easy for these two. Their relationship isn't exactly going to be a simple one.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter is going to be exciting. I'm looking forward to it. It's time for more AllSpark fun and to further prepare for the next movie!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	25. Facing Politicians

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!
> 
> I hope the new year treats you well. I'm hoping to finish this fic this year adn then I can start the Avangers sequel!
> 
> Anyway, I like this chapter. It was so much fun!
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Sweat covers Ari’s tired body, soaking into her workout clothes. The fist of Chromia’s holoform flies towards her face. Ari deflects with her forearm but is not fast enough to doge the knee that connects with her stomach causing her to stumble back. It’s a little hard to breathe but she recovers quickly and is able to block the next kick.

“Good, Ari,” Chromia says. Chromia aims a few more punches and kicks at Ari and she blocks them all. “Very good, but you can’t stay on the defensive forever. If you’re ever going to get away from an attacker you have to attack _them_. Disable them so that they can’t chase after you and you can get away.”

Ari clenches her jaw and lashes out with a punch. Chromia easily blocks it. She tries again and again, punching and kicking, but Chromia blocks them every time.

“Come on, Ari, these hits are weak.”

Ari punches harder, faster, and Chromia has to move more quickly in order to block.

“You’re not weak, are you?”

Ari kicks out, her foot grazing along Chromia’s side.

“I know you’re strong. Prove it!”

Ari cries out in determination, pushing her body to move faster, to hit harder, until, with a well-placed kick to the ribs, Chromia goes down. Ari launches herself on top of her, legs pinning Chromia’s arms to her sides, hand at her throat, and a fist held back for what would be the finishing blow.

Chromia smiles up at her. “Well done, Ari. Very well done. We’ll make a warrior out of you yet.”

Several of the soldiers who had been watching the match applaud and Ari smiles as she gets up, holding out a hand to help Chromia up as well. “I think I still have a long way to go for that.”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t holding back that much.”

“But you were still holding back.” Their little crowd begins to dissipate and Ari goes over to a bench on the outskirts of the training mat where her towel and water bottle lay. She takes several big gulps of water and then uses the towel to wipe some of the sweat from her face. “Not like it matters, though. I’ll never be as good as you.”

Chromia claps her on the shoulder. “Few ever become as good as me, but I see great potential in you. Don’t sell yourself so short.”

Someone clears their throat very loudly and the girls turn to see Galloway standing just inside the training room, hands clasped behind his back and the ever-present scowl on his face. “Ms. Lennox, may I have a word with you?”

Ari knows that it’s less of a question and more of a demand. She looks at Chromia, who’s frowning slightly, but she nods at Ari. “We were pretty much done anyway,” Chromia says, “and you already did your weapons training with Ironhide. Same time tomorrow?”

Ari nods. “Yeah, sounds good.” She picks up her towel and bottle and turns towards the locker room as she asks Galloway, “Mind if I shower first?”

He scowls even more, if that’s possible, but as he looks her over and sees that she’s covered in sweat and grime his nose wrinkles. “Very well. Just make it quick. I’ll be waiting for you out in the hall.”

She’s tempted to take as long as possible, but considering Galloway hardly ever talks to her she knows this can’t be anything good and she doesn’t want to do anything to upset him that might make him take it out on the Autobots. So, she rushes through the shower, throws on a spare pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a jacket she keeps in one of the lockers, and wrangles her damp hair into a pony tail.

When she exits the training room she, unfortunately, finds Galloway standing in the hall still waiting for her. She bites back a sigh and approaches him to face whatever slag he has for her this time.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Galloway?” she asks, trying to pull together all the politeness and patience she can muster.

“I want to know why you are on this base, Ms. Lennox.” Well, no beating around the bush then.

“I’m on this base because I’m allowed on this base.”

“But why? The Council doesn’t just hand out all-access passes to just anyone.”

She shrugs. “Guess I’m just special.”

He glares at her. “Don’t play games with me, little girl. There’s a reason why you’re allowed on base. I’ve tried to get access to your file to find out what it is, but have been denied every time.”

“Sheesh, first Phil and now you?”

“Phil?” he asks in confusion and interest.

“Agent Coulson. With S.H.I.E.L.D.”

He smirks. “So I’m not the only one interested.”

“No, you’re not, but unlike you, they’re polite enough to keep their noses out of other people’s business when asked.” Galloway opens his mouth to say something, probably something nasty by the look on his face, but she holds up a hand to silence him. “Look, Mr. Galloway, my file is classified beyond everyone’s reach for a reason. Based on what you told me, I’m guessing the Council has told you ‘no’ on several occasions. You should listen to them.”

Galloway growls at her, leaning in close to her face, trying to use his height to his advantage and intimidate her. But that trick isn’t going to work on her. Not anymore.

“You look here, Ms. Lennox,” he says, his voice low. Threatening. “I don’t care what it takes or who I have to go through, even if it’s your little alien friends. I’m going to find out what you are hiding and when I do I’m going to use it to destroy you.”

It’s her turn to smirk. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Oh, you think the Autobots will be enough to protect you?”

“I do.” Her own voice turns threatening. “Last I checked they aren’t so little. And if you even so much as _think_ of hurting them to get to me, you’ll be sorry. Because that is something I will _never_ allow.”

They glare at each other for a minute, neither wanting to back down, but when Galloway’s phone chirps in his pocket he’s forced to look away. He takes the cell out of his jacket, glances at it, and then puts it away. “This isn’t over,” he says with one final glare and then turns on his heel towards the main hanger.

The sound of slow applause causes Ari to turn around. Will is leaning against the wall near the entrance to the training room, clapping his hands with a huge grin on his face. He pushes off of the wall and approaches her. “That was _awesome_.”

Ari rubs at the back of her neck self-consciously. “All I did was speak my mind.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never seen anyone stand up to Galloway like that, except for maybe Optimus.”

“Has Galloway been giving Optimus and the Autobots a hard time?”

Will sighs tiredly. “Yeah, just about every time he’s here. He’s really badgering us about the damage caused when we fight the Decepticons and how hard it is sometimes to keep the situation contained.”

“That’s not fair! The Decepticons don’t care about not causing damage or staying out of sight from humans. Galloway can’t really expect you guys to control what the Decepticons do? In the middle of a fight…it doesn’t work like that. There’s no telling what will happen.”

“I know, but Galloway doesn’t care. I think he’s trying to put the Autobots in a bad light hoping it’ll help him get what he wants.”

Ari’s fists clench at her sides. “He’s still trying to get their weapons, isn’t he.”

“Yeah, but Optimus isn’t moving an inch. And neither is the Council. It’s a part of the treaty that the Autobots will never give up their weapons knowledge. Galloway is hoping if he makes the Autobots look bad and incompetent the Council will change their minds and decide that the only way to handle things is if humans have better weapons to stop the Decepticons ourselves.”

“That’s not going to end well. Do you think Galloway will succeed eventually?”

“I don’t know, kid, but he’s willing to keep on trying. I don’t see him giving up any time soon.”

She fingers her pendant absently. “There has to be something that can be done. Someone needs to stop Galloway. To stand between him and the Autobots.”

“You seem to be pretty good at it.”

She balks. “Excuse me?”

“What? Like I said, you were awesome dealing with him before.”

“Maybe, but dealing with Galloway on a regular basis is going to take a deep knowledge of politics which is something I don’t have. And I’m sure there are others just like him I’d have to deal with, too. The Autobots need someone like Phil, not me.”

“Well, yeah, you can’t do it _now_. There’s a lot you’re going to have to learn, but that’s what college is for. You said you didn’t know what you want to do yet, right?”

“No, I don’t know what I want to do.” Ari has been getting college ads for a while now from what feels like every college within a three state radius. All of them have their good points and bad points, but she just has no clue. She _wants_ to go to college, she just doesn’t know where. Or what for. “I just know that I want to stay close to the Autobots. I don’t think I could ever be a soldier, but I’m not really good at anything, except learning, and that’s just because of the AllSpark.”

Will gives her a reassuring smile. “But you are good at understanding other people, even when they’re so different from yourself. When you first met Sideswipe you didn’t look at him in fear. You befriended him. You got to know him. And when the new Autobots arrived on their ship, none of the soldiers knew what to do, but you walked right up to Chromia and introduced yourself.”

“Okay, so I’m a Cybertronian person. But I’m not a people person. It took six Autobots and a couple of soldiers to be on my side before I was able to stand up to Ron. What makes you think I’ll be able to stand up to a bunch of bloodthirsty politicians?”

“Because of what I just saw. You stood up to Galloway without even flinching. If you can take on Galloway, then you can take on any politician like him wanting a piece of the Autobots.”

“But Galloway is just an egotistical aftpipe.” She’s gotten enough practice from dealing with Trent to handle an aftpipe like Galloway.

“They’re _all_ just egotistical aftpipes.”

Ari sighs heavily, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “That still doesn’t mean I’ll ever be smart enough or skilled enough like them. Phil would be better at it than me. And the Autobots would have to wait years for me to finish college. And would I even be allowed to do…whatever it is we’re talking about me doing?”

“You may not have the skills now, but you’ll get them in college. And I know that, in just a few years, you can become so much better than them. Do you really think Coulson always knew what he knows now?”

She looks down at her feet. “No.”

“No, he didn’t. He had to learn everything, and so will you.” Will places a hand on her shoulder. “Look, just talk to Optimus. If there really is a chance you can do this, then I think you should take it. You could make a real difference here, Ari.”

Ari nods absently. “I-I’ll think about it.”

She walks away, back towards the Autobot hanger, unsure of what she’s going to do. She wants to do something with her life that’s meaningful. She’s already the AllSpark, but that’s not really…her. It’s not something she’s done, not something she’s accomplished by herself. She was just made that way. And it’s something that only a select few know about. Ari wants to do something by her own power that she can be proud of. She would love to do something with the Autobots but….

Can she really do this?

When she enters the hanger her eyes connect with Sideswipe’s optics. At first, she felt a little bit awkward around him after Christmas, but things are mostly normal now. And they need to stay that way. Normal.

Normal is so overrated, though, but what choice does she have? At least putting on a calm facade is something she’s had a lot of practice with and is really good at.

Sideswipe looks at her curiously, asking her a silent question, but she just waves him off. Instead, she heads straight for Optimus. She knocks on his shin. “Hey, Optimus?”

He looks down at her. “Yes, Ari? What is it?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Certainly.” He bends down, holding out his hand to her palm up, and she climbs on. He carriers her outside, sensing her need for privacy, and they sit out in the sun with Ari propped on his knee. “Now, what is it you wished to speak to me about?”

Ari takes a deep breath and then tells Optimus what she and Will spoke about. When she’s finished Optimus is giving her an amused look and her cheeks turn a little red. “You think it’s stupid, don’t you?”

“No, Ari, I do not think it stupid. Galloway and the other human politicians have indeed been troublesome these past few months, especially since the Decepticon sightings have started. I do my best against them, but they are not as understanding of my kind as you are. Having a human on our side who understands us and can remind these politicians of the trust we share may be what we need.”

A jolt of surprise rushes through her. “And do you really think I could do that?”

“I believe you are the only one who can.” Optimus picks her up again and lifts her so that she is level with his face. “Ari, you are our first and closest friend since coming to this planet. You understand us in ways no one else ever will, and I am not just saying that because of the AllSpark power that resides within you. You treat us no differently than a fellow human. You look past our differences and treat us as equals. You trust us, the same as we trust you. If anyone is to be our ambassador, it should be you.”

“Ambassador?” she asks, wide-eyed.

“Yes. Secretary Keller made sure it was added to the treaty that we would have the authority to appoint our own ambassador, someone to represent us to your leaders.”

“A-And you think I should be this…ambassador?”

He nods. “I do. When it was added to the treaty, you were the first person I thought of.”

“But I wouldn’t be able to do it for years. Something like this…it requires schooling. Training. Things that I don’t have right now. I would have to get through college first. The average bachelor degree takes four years and I won’t be starting college for another year and a half.”

“I have heard from Will how you are doing in school. You are achieving exceptionally high scores in all of your classes. He’s said that you could finish high school early if your school offered the opportunity. Would not colleges offer an opportunity such as this to where it would not take the total four years?”

She opens her mouth and then closes it again. Yes, school has been really easy for her since the AllSpark and everything. It’s been making her lessons seem…slow. Like she could learn a two weeks’ worth of lessons in one day given the chance. In college, she would have a better opportunity to go at her own, accelerated pace. She could take as many classes as she wants at once, easily getting done in maybe two years.

She runs a hand over her face. “Yeah, yeah, I could finish college in probably half the time, but do you really want to wait three and a half years for me?”

“Yes, Ari,” Optimus says, his voice full of certainly. “We will wait as long as it takes. I can handle Galloway and the others for now.”

“Yeah?” she asks hopefully.

Optimus chuckles. “Yes.”

“Al-Alright then.” She looks back at the hanger and then back up at Optimus with a wide grin. “I guess I know what I’m going to do now.”

When she’s done talking to Optimus she runs and finds Will, Rob, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker watching T.V. in the rec room. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sit on a Cybertronian-sized metal bench with scaffolding surrounding it. On the scaffolding are several couches with Will and Rob sitting on one. She climbs up the scaffold and excitedly tells them of her decision to become the Autobot Ambassador.

“That’s awesome, Ari,” Sideswipe says, his face mirroring her own excitement. “Optimus is right, you would be perfect for it.”

“See?” Will says. “I told you so.”

“Got any idea on where you’re gonna go to college then?” Rob asks.

Ari shakes her head. “No, not yet. I’ll have to do some research. Find out which ones have the best political science programs.”

“But you have plenty time for that.” Will gestures to the seat beside him. “Come on and enjoy a little mindless television with us and unwind.”

Before Ari can even make one step towards the couch Sideswipe grabs her and places her on his leg. She laughs, fighting off a blush, and settles back against his chassis.

_Just keep everything normal, Ari. You can enjoy it, but you have to keep acting like it’s no big deal_.

Easier said than done, though. Her heart must be beating a mile a minute, threatening to burst out of her chest. She tries her best to ignore it, instead watching whatever show is playing on the huge T.V. After a while she is able to calm herself down and relax.

But her blush does not go away. At least, it feels like it doesn’t. Her face is still really warm. She presses the back of her hand to her forehead and it feels like she’s running a fever. She sheds her jacket, thinking she’s probably just warm. She focuses her attention back to the T.V. but then not long after a headache starts to throb inside her skull, gradually getting worse and worse. She squirms, trying to get comfortable, but all of a sudden it’s impossible.

“Hey, Ari, you alright?” Sideswipe asks.

“I’m not sure.” She presses the back of her hand to her cheek. It feels warmer now. “I think I might be coming down with something.”

“You’re getting sick?” Sideswipe sounds really worried now. “Do you want me to take you to Ratchet?”

“No, no, I’ll be fine.” Ari sits up and slides off of his leg to the floor, tying her jacket around her waist. “I’m just going to go lie down for a while.”

Will looks at his watch. “The sun’s gonna be setting soon. You might as well just stay here for the night and go to sleep now. The best way to kick the flu is to get a lot of rest.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“You want me to take you to the dorms?” Sideswipe asks.

“No, that’s okay. I can get there by myself.”

“Are you sure?”

She smiles as best she can despite how slagging awful she’s starting to feel. “I’m sure. Sorry I’ll be missing stargazing tonight.”

“Just go sleep already and get better,” Sunstreaker says and she smiles a little wider at his masked worry. She waves goodbye and heads out.

As she’s making her way to the dorms she thinks over what supplies she has in her room. She has a couple days’ worth of clothes in the dresser, spare toothbrush, toothpaste, shower products. She basically has all of the essentials, except for the one thing she actually wants right now: some cold medicine. Or maybe some aspirin. She thinks about maybe going back and actually seeing Ratchet, but it just sounds like too much effort to turn around and walk all the way to the med bay.

“Well, hopefully the AllSpark will help me get over this faster,” she mutters to herself as she reaches for the door to the dorms. But then she freezes.

The AllSpark…Ratchet said it boosted her immune system, making it strong enough to fight off any disease, so strong it’s now _impossible_ for her to get sick. She looks down at her hands. What is this sickness then? Her headache spikes again and she hisses in pain.

_Wait. I’ve felt this before._

Ari turns around and starts walking quickly back the way she came, fumbling for her pendant. She pushes the black button for the General Comm. “Sideswipe, where are you?”

::Still in the rec room,:: he says. ::Why?::

“I need you to come get me,” she says, panic starting to filter into her voice. She doesn’t want to be alone for this. “You need to come get me right now.”

::I’m on my way,:: he says quickly. ::What is it, are there Decepticons?::

“No, it’s the AllSpark. I’m getting another mark.”

As soon as she says it the pain in her head intensifies to excruciating. She drops to her knees and grabs at her head. An engine roars somewhere nearby followed by warmth surrounding her. She knows she must be with Sideswipe now but it all feels so far away. All she can feel is pain. It gets even worse on her left arm and then everything goes black.

* * *

Ari awakens in a familiar desert. This time she doesn’t have to look around and wonder what to do. Right away she heads towards the craggy mountains where, sure enough, six ancient Cybertronians stand waiting for her. Even though she understands what it all means, she doesn’t understand why she is here now.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asks the first Primes. “You said I’d only unlock the powers of the AllSpark when I earned them.”

“And you have,” the Prime at the head of the group says.

Her brow furrows. “How? I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh, but you did,” the femme says. “It was the decision on what to do for your future that unlocked the next mark.”

“You mean become the Autobot Ambassador?”

The first Prime nods. “You decided to devote your life to helping our kind, to protect them from those who would do them harm and who do not have open hearts and minds.”

“But you do have an open heart,” the femme says with a knowing smile. Ari blushes and quickly looks away from her.

“To become the Autobot Ambassador will be a difficult task,” the largest of the Primes says. “You will need understanding of our race that you do not possess now. This mark will help you.”

Ari looks down at her left forearm. A new mark is glowing on her skin, a little bit smaller than the mark of the AllSpark and rests below it, closer to her hand, and slightly to the right. It almost looks like a Japanese kanji but she knows it’s Cybertronian.

And, somehow, she knows what it says.

“Knowledge,” she reads. She looks up at the Primes in shock. “I can read it. How?”

“That is the mark of knowledge,” the first Prime says. “As you know, the Cube held all of our race’s knowledge, our history, from the very beginning to the present. Including our language.”

“So all of that knowledge is inside of me now?”

“Yes, and controlling that knowledge will be difficult. You have already had practice gathering information from your human texts and creating the doors in your mind. You will now need dozens of new doors to contain this knowledge.”

“How can I do that, all at once? I’ve only ever made one door at a time.”

“Do not worry, Ari,” the femme says. “We will help you.”

“And we should start now. The first Prime reaches down and takes Ari into his hands so that she is sitting cross-legged on his palms. “Now, close your eyes and clear your mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we now have another mark. That's two out of seven for those of you who don't remember.
> 
> And Ari is going to be an Ambassador! I know this is something done in other stories. Hopefully I do a good job once things get that far.
> 
> Next chapter is going to be some more fluff. :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	26. Never Let Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's adorable. Hope you think so too.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

An unfamiliar landscape spreads out in every direction. Nothing green; no trees, no grass. Nothing blue; no rivers, no oceans. Nothing of any color besides shades of gray metal. Metal, craggy mountains, metal towers, metal spires lit up in the night like skyscrapers. There’s also no sound. No chirping of birds. No skittering of small creatures. Just a low hum seemingly coming from everywhere. From the ground itself. The night sky is unfamiliar, too. Ari knows the stars in the night sky like the back of her hand, even the ones in different hemispheres. She can’t find any of the constellations she knows, no Orion, no Little Dipper. This isn’t her sky, Earth’s sky.

It’s a metal city on a metal planet.

There is a sound, a bang, like distant thunder, accompanied by a vibrating pule in the ground. But it’s not thunder. Ari looks out into the metal city, squinting her eyes, trying to see between buildings through the darkness. There is another boom, louder this time, then another and another, getting louder, faster, stronger. With wide eyes she realizes what the banging is and runs in the opposite direction just as a Cybertronian rounds a corner, his red optics gleaming with purpose. She looks back, trying to tell if he’s seen her, and it looks like he hasn’t. The Cybertronian is looking beyond her. More thumping causes her to look forward again. Another Cybertronian, this one an Autobot with blue optics but one she does not know, is running towards the Decepticon. Ari changes course, ducking into the archway of one of the huge towers, as the two clash. There’s more banging all around, followed by explosions from pulse cannons. Ari looks around. She’s surrounded by hundreds of Cybertronians, Decepticons and Autobots, all fighting for their lives.

She is surrounded by war and death. So much death.

Amidst the chaos she spots an Autobot who looks vaguely familiar. His armor is slightly different but the blades he’s fighting with are the same. Three Decepticons are closing in on him, reading their blasters.

Ari screams, “Sideswipe!”

* * *

Ari awakes with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed. She breathes deep and fast, feeling like she just ran for miles. Leaning forward with closed eyes, her head falls on a shoulder she knew would be there.

“Are you alright?” Sideswipe whispers, his hand coming up to stroke her head, fingers weaving into her hair.

She sighs deeply, both because she’s tired and because his touch feels good. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just wish I had better control over the AllSpark knowledge already. At the very least, I wish the doors would stop cracking open in my sleep.”

“What did you see this time?”

“More of the war again.” She presses herself closer to him, though still hesitant to fully hug him. She just needs to be reassured that he really is here, that the memory from the AllSpark really was just a memory. Something that already happened and that Sideswipe survived from. “There’s just so much death, no matter what part of the war I see. Do you think things will get that bad again?”

“I don’t know. I thought things would get better with Megatron gone but….”

“They know there’s something different about me now. Once they find out the truth they’ll come after me just like they did the Cube.”

“And we’ll keep you safe just like we did the Cube. I won’t let them hurt you.”

Doubt trickles in. They couldn’t really protect the Cube. They were forced to destroy it. After a huge battle that caused no little amount of destruction and risked a lot of people’s lives. Other people who don’t deserve to get caught up in all of this.

“What about everyone else? I don’t want anyone getting hurt or killed because of me.”

“We’ll protect them, too.”

“But what if we can’t?”

“We will.”

“But what if we _can’t_?” She pulls away from him to look at his face. “So much could go wrong. The Decepticons have already proven they can get to me, no matter the cost to anyone else. What if it happens again?”

“It won’t.”

She huffs in frustration. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because we’re together. And we have the others. N.E.S.T. is growing strong. I know we can handle whatever the Decepticons dish out because we won’t be facing it alone.” He takes her hand and squeezes. “ _You_ won’t be facing it alone.”

“I wish I had your optimism,” she says with a soft smile.

“You just need to stop worrying all the time. What you need is a distraction.”

“What, like going out to the lake again?”

“I don’t know. I’m thinking something new.” He smiles mischievously. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

She rolls her eyes. Sideswipe’s surprises are always…interesting. “Well, in the meantime, how about you just spend some time with me outside.”

Sideswipe gives her an uncertain look, a look odd for him. “We can just stay in here if you like.”

“No, I want to be with the real you.” She doesn’t understand where this is coming from. Does he think she prefers his holoform or something? Because she would take the real Sideswipe over a holoform any day. The holoform makes some things easier but…it’s just not the same.

Sideswipe is still looking at her oddly, so she turns towards the window and makes her way down to the ground and towards his sleeping form. His optics are just coming online again as she approaches and she holds out her arms to him. He chuckles softly and lifts her up onto his chassis, wrapping her in a warm embrace. As she relaxes into it she wonders if they’ll still have moments like this if Sideswipe’s femme ever comes along. But she stops that thought cold before it can go any further. Sideswipe’s right, she needs to stop worrying over things. Especially the things she can’t control.

* * *

The next day at lunchtime as Sideswipe is hanging out with Ari while she eats, he notices a bunch of fliers taped all over the school. All of them say, “Do you have a date to prom?” Not knowing what a prom is he asks Ari, but her cheeks turn bright red for some reason. He’s always loved it when she blushes, but there’s usually a reason for it which he can’t fathom now. This prom thing must be something pretty bad.

“What is it?” he asks again.

She shakes her head vehemently.

“Aw, come on. Just tell me.”

“L-Look it up yourself if you want to know so much.”

“That takes effort. Just tell me.”

“No.”

“Why not? It’s not really that bad, is it?”

“No, not really, it’s just that I know what you’re going to say once you find out and I’m trying to avoid it.”

Now he’s really interested. A quick scan of the internet and he finds out what a prom is. It’s a social gathering and dance. They used to have similar social gatherings on Cybertron, a gathering of friends where they enjoyed each other’s company and conversation. Dancing is even not an unfamiliar concept to him.

And it’s just the kind of distraction Ari could use right now.

“You are so going to this,” he says with a wide grin.

Ari groans, dropping her head onto the table. “See? I knew you were going to say that.”

“What? You don’t want to go?”

“No, Sideswipe, I don’t.” She props her head up in one hand, her elbow resting on the table. “Prom is something I would only do if I had a group of friends to go with, which I don’t, or a guy asked me to go as his date, which I don’t see happening. Besides, it’s something that usually people wait for senior year to go to.”

“Not true.”

One of her eyebrows rises. “About which part?”

“All of it. The flier says junior/senior prom, and you are a junior, and you have someone you can go with.”

“Oh, yeah? Who?”

“Me.”

She sits up quickly, wide-eyed. “Excuse me?”

He takes her hand and looks her straight in the eyes. “Ari, will you go to prom with me?”

She just stares at him, mouth slightly open, and he begins to worry. Did he do it wrong? According to the internet, that’s how he’s supposed to do it. Does she not want to go with him? He’ll…understand if she doesn’t. Prom is a human tradition. Maybe she wants to go with an actual human instead of…him. This is one of those dating situations again and, even though he said on her birthday when they were eating breakfast at the diner that the two of them hanging out is like a date, he knows now it really isn’t the same. Dating involves feelings for one another, more than just as friends. And even though he feels that way, he knows she won’t ever see it that way.

“Do you really mean it?” she asks, her voice so quiet he almost misses it.

“Of course I mean it. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.” She goes quiet again and he squeezes her hand. “Ari, I kinda need an answer.”

She blinks a few times. “Oh…um…I-I don’t know….”

“Come on, Ari. It’ll be fun. And you need a little fun right now.”

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and says, “Alright.” Her eyes glint with excitement when she opens them. “Yeah, I’ll go with you.”

He grins with his own excitement. “This is gonna be awesome.”

* * *

 _“This is so not awesome,”_ Sideswipe says to his brother over their bond as he tugs at his tie, trying to get more room to breathe. _“I feel like my processor is gonna glitch any second, I’m so nervous.”_

 _“Don’t be, bro,”_ Sunstreaker says from where he sits on the couch. Sideswipe is too nervous to sit. He’s pacing back and forth at the base of the stairs.

_“That’s easy for you to say. What if I mess this up?”_

_“You won’t. You’re both gonna have a great time. So stop worrying.”_

Sideswipe doesn’t even understand _why_ he’s worrying. They’ve hung out together plenty of times and he’d feel perfectly fine. Even after…what happened at Christmas. He’s been able to act perfectly normal around her and not let his spark get in the way.

But right now it is pulsing uncontrollably.

Is it because this is more of a date-like situation they’ve been in since…Christmas? Does it mean it’s going to get harder to just be friends with her?

 _“You should just tell her how you feel,”_ Sunstreaker interjects. _“It’ll make all our lives a lot easier, especially mine. You don’t know how annoying it is seeing you two together and-”_

 _“Shut up, Sunstreaker,”_ Sideswipe growls, being in no mood to hear Sunstreaker’s opinions on the matter.

_“What? She likes you same as you like her.”_

The bond bubbles with Sideswipe’s frustration. This is an argument Sunstreaker has made many times before and it’s getting old fast. _“You can’t possible know that.”_

_“Of course I can! It’s fragging obvious if you’d just look at the way she acts around you!”_

Sideswipe is about to say something back when Sarah comes rushing down the stairs excitedly. “Alright, she’s ready,” Sarah says. “Will, you got the camera?”

“Yep.” Will comes out of the kitchen, Ari’s camcorder in his hand. “Alright, we’re rolling. You can come down now, Ari!”

Sideswipe stands at the base of the stairs, hands clasped behind is back. His palms are sweaty. He’s never had sweaty palms before. It’s really annoying but he can’t seem to make them stop.

But then Ari appears at the top of the stairs and he isn’t thinking about sweaty palms anymore.

Her strapless dress is deep blue, tight around the bodice and then flaring out to where it flows around her legs, the back of the skirt reaching towards her ankles and then curving up to where it stops just above her knees in the front. On her feet are a pair of strappy silver sandals that wrap around her ankles and add almost nothing to her height, but he knows she hates wearing heels, always saying how she’d most likely kill herself in anything with a heel over one inch thick. Her hair had been done at a salon earlier that day so that her usual wavy hair is now tamed into loose curls. Ironhide had to take her because Sarah insisted Sideswipe not see Ari all day until this moment.

And the wait has so been worth it.

* * *

When Sideswipe asked Ari to prom it felt like a dream come true. She knows he probably sees it as just them going as friends, but she can pretend. At least for a little while. However, after getting into the dress her and Sarah picked out, she’s starting to have second thoughts. Her arms are completely exposed in this dress. Her AllSpark marks can’t be hidden, which isn’t really a problem now that she thinks about it. This may be a school function but the dress code doesn’t exactly apply for prom. If it did, then she wouldn’t be able to wear this dress since it’s strapless. But the fact that she won’t be able to hide her marks from the students and school faculty who will be at the dance isn’t what’s really bothering her. It’s her scars. _Everyone_ is going to be able to see them. Sure, they know what happened to her, but not the specifics. They know she was abused, but they never really knew the extent. Now they will. And even though she’s in this amazing dress she will be seen as ugly because of them.

But the look on Sideswipe’s face as she descends the stairs causes her to second guess herself again. Not once has his eyes roamed her arms. He’s looking at her, at all of her, with complete awe. Not disgust.

Sideswipe takes her hand to lead her off of the last of the stairs. “You look…beautiful,” he says breathlessly.

A slight blush spreads across her cheeks. “Thank you.”

Sunstreaker nudges Sideswipe’s shoulder with a white box. “Oh! That’s right, I got you something.” Sideswipe takes the box from his brother’s hands and opens it for her to see. Inside is a corsage, a bundle of light blue roses with little white flowers dappled in between. He slips it on her left wrist right below her bracelet. She has both her bracelets and the Autobot pendant on still. The bracelets match fine, but the pendant stands out a little since it’s red. She didn’t want to not bring it though. Just in case.

But she’s not going to think about all the bad that could happen. She just focuses on Sideswipe, on how good he looks in a suit and tie, and allows Will to take pictures of them with her camcorder. As she smiles at the camera with Sideswipe’s hand on her waist she thinks this will be one of her favorite moments captured on that camera.

No matter what happens she will look back on this moment with a smile.

When they get to the hotel prom is to be held in Ari is a bundle of nerves again. She’s never gone to things like this before and doesn’t really know what she’s going to do once she gets there. Sideswipe’s holoform opens her door for her and she steps out, taking his hand tightly and not wanting to let go. His grip on her is the only thing keeping her from bolting right now.

Sideswipe leans in close and whispers into her ear, “It’ll be fine. Just relax and ignore everyone else.”

“But they can see,” she whispers back. Even now as they walk towards the entrance to the ballroom she can see the stares focused on her arms. On her scars.

“Let them see. They’re nothing to be ashamed of.”

“But-”

“And they definitely don’t make you ugly.” They stop right in front of the door and he turns her to face him. “You’re beautiful, Ari. If you believe that yourself, then that’s all everyone else will be able to see, too.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I do.” He holds out his arm to her. “Now come on. Let’s go have some fun.”

She smiles, taking his arm, and they enter the ballroom after presenting their tickets, the air thumping with the loud music. She had to get special permission from the school in order for Sideswipe to be allowed to come since he doesn’t go to Tranquility and is older. But a certain S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was able to help her out with that, for which she is grateful. She never would have come to prom if she had to go by herself. There are so many people crammed into one room that just isn’t quite big enough for them all, so very soon the familiar claustrophobia starts to trickle down her spine. It’s better once she’s seated at a table but she’s not sure she’ll be able to go out on the dance floor. They’ll have to stick as much to the outskirts as possible.

But it’s not like she even knows _how_ to dance anyway.

They hold the dancing off for a while though, Sideswipe being kind enough to go get her some of the finger foods so she can stay at the safety of the table. As soon as he leaves, though, someone else takes his seat.

Trent leans back in the chair next to her, a devilish grin on his face. His eyes roam up and down her body in a way that reminds her of Ron.

She snaps her fingers right in front of his face, making him look up. “Eyes up here, Trent.”

“Aw, but baby,” Trent purrs, “you’re looking so fine tonight I can’t help but look.”

She narrows her eyes at him. No way is he going to be allowed to call her that. “Keep this up and you won’t be able to look at anybody.”

He barks out a laugh. “Yeah, right, Short Stuff.” Leaning forward, he puts a hand on both of the arm rests of her chair, boxing her in. “How about you stop playing this game? Hard to get is only fun for so long before I get tired.” He leans in even more, his face only inches from hers. “Then I tend to just take what I want.”

 _Okay, enough is enough_.

With a swift jerk of her knee Ari hits Trent in the groin. He moans in pain, his hands retracting from around her to protect himself and he falls back into his chair.

She stands, looking down on him in disgust. “The answer is no, Trent. It will always be no. Be sure to remember that and stay the Pit away from me.”

With one last glare at Trent’s pathetic face she leaves in search of Sideswipe. Though she doesn’t have to go far. He’s standing just a few yards away, plate of food in hand, and a proud grin on his face. “Look who’s all standing up for herself now,” he says.

She lifts up her chin, her grin matching his. “Yes, I am. And if feels great. Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that?”

“Not as long as me.”

“Oh, please, I’ve known Trent _much_ longer than you.” She takes a cheese cube from off of the plate. “Anyway, looks like we need a new table.”

“Actually,” Sideswipe places the plate down on a nearby table, ignoring the looks he gets from the people already seated there, and takes her hand, “I think it’s time for something else.”

“Like what?”

The music comes to a scratching halt. Everyone groans in annoyance, heads turning to the DJ station. But it isn’t the hired DJ standing at the turntables. It’s Sunstreaker, dressed in a suit. “Hello, everyone,” he says into the microphone. “You don’t know me, but I don’t really care. I just want to dedicate this next song to a certain mech and femme out there. You know who you are.” He winks in their direction and then runs off before he is caught, going over to stand with Bumblebee, Skids, and Mudflap, the only Autobots young enough to blend in with a crowd of high schoolers and all dressed up in suits.

A song starts up in Sunstreaker’s wake, a song Ari knows well.

“It’s ‘The Last Night,’” Ari says quietly, a small smile tugging at her lips as she remembers the first time Sideswipe ever “talked” to her.

Sideswipe holds out his hand to her. “May I have this dance?”

She hesitates. “I-I don’t know how to dance.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”

Ari takes his hand and he leads her out towards the dance floor. The further they go, the more people that surround her and she starts to feel twitchy. In a relatively clear place Sideswipe stops and draws her close, placing his hands on her hips and hers go to his shoulders. This is the closest to hugging she’s ever been and the worst crowd she’s been in for a while and her skin is starting to really crawl now and her breathing accelerates. It feels like everything is closing in on her.

“Don’t focus on anything but me, Ari,” Sideswipe whispers to her. “You are here, dancing with me. Follow my lead and everything will be alright.”

Closing her eyes, she nods, forcing herself to listen to the lyrics of the song and move along with the swaying of Sideswipe’s steps. By the time the second verse begins she doesn’t feel so trapped anymore. She opens her eyes and sees Sideswipe, her Sideswipe, and nothing else. Not her father. The surrounding people don’t feel like they’re suppressing her anymore. It’s just her and Sideswipe.

Sideswipe searches her eyes with his, his thumbs drawing lazy circles on her sides. “You alright now?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I am.” She steps closer to him, her arms rising further to encircle his neck and Sideswipe’s wrap around her waist. This is the closest they’ve ever been to each other, chest to chest, pretty much a full hug.

And she really is okay.

Sideswipe smiles softly. “I told you I’d wrap you in my arms and won’t let go.”

She chuckles as the song repeats the same line he quoted. “That you did. And you better not let go.”

He places his forehead against hers and they both close their eyes. “Never.”

With that promise Ari feels that maybe, just maybe, everything really is going to be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A good bit of fluffiness there. Hope you liked it.
> 
> But next chapter, the real fun begins. Because next chapter I start Rise of the Fallen.
> 
> That also means next chapter there's going to be about a year time jump because I'm going to do Rise of the Fallen after she graduates high school, just like it is in the movie. I would love to just show all of the next year with a lot more fluff, but that would be way too much to do and a lot of people want me to get to the next movie. So I will oblige. They're basically right where I want them, relationship wise, so doing more would be pointless.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	27. Staying Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said last chapter, this chapter starts Rise of the Fallen. Keep in mind, there are going to be differences. I had to change a lot in order to adapt to the changes already made, like only having Ari instead of Sam and Mikaela and Ari being the AllSpark.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Time passes. And during that time Ari pushes herself to do the best she can as she finishes up high school. She finishes junior year with flying colors. Summer comes and goes. Work at Hal’s continues. Senior year begins. She takes the last of the classes she needs, plus some classes at the community college so that she can get a head start in college. It’s a lot of work, but Sideswipe makes sure it isn’t overwhelming. There are many more moments of happiness that make it onto her camcorder.

But there are also moments of sadness.

The unthinkable happens. The existence of aliens comes to light. But it is not Cybertronians who reveal themselves to the world. Other aliens, known as the Chitauri, attack the Earth, led by the Asgardian Loki. When Ari saw it on the news she thought maybe they’d need the Autobots’ help, but the Autobots would never have been able to get all the way to New York in time. Not before the battle was over, one way or another. Thankfully, there were others already there fighting to save the city. A group of specially gifted people known as the Avengers. The Chitauri were defeated and New York was able to pick up the pieces.

It’s certainly not how Ari was hoping the rest of humanity would find out about aliens. When the time came, she was hoping the world could be introduced to the Autobots and humans would see them as peaceful and kind. Now, with their first exposure to aliens being so full of death and destruction, she worries that they will look on the Autobots with the same fear. And the Chitauri caused a lot of fear. And death. When they attacked New York, many people died.

Including Phil Coulson. That had been devastating news when Will told her.

And now, as she stands at the head of the line waiting to walk out onto the school football field in her cap and gown, she wishes he were here to see her graduate. She would have given him a ticket to the graduation in a heartbeat. She also would have liked his advice about speeches.

Because she’s at the head of the graduation line. Valedictorian. And it’s tradition for the Valedictorian to give a speech.

When it is her time to stand at the podium on the stage in front of so, so many people, she feels like she’s about to feint. The collar of her black gown is tight around her neck and really warm. She’s given speeches to new recruits on several occasions by now, but that was only ever a couple dozen soldiers at a time. This is more like a couple hundred. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker offered to prank the crowd again for her. She had to make them swear not to. That’s the last thing she needs, them two causing a scene at her graduation. Although it probably would have been hilarious.

Instead she takes a deep breath, grips her notecards tightly in her hands, and speaks into the microphone, “Greetings, my fellow students, our families, and acclaimed faculty. Though I am standing here in front of _all_ of you today, it is just the students I wish to speak to now. Because this is your day. This is the day when the rest of your life begins. You are all about to embark on a new journey, whether it be right into the workforce or off to college. Either way, they will be new experiences; a new way of life you are not used to. And you are probably scared. Uncertain. I already know what that feels like because, two years ago, I was already ripped from all that I knew and thrust into a new way of life.”

Her eyes glance over to where Sideswipe’s holoform is sitting with her family and the rest of the Autobots. He already knows what she is about to say since he helped her practice and he nods to her in encouragement. This will be very hard, but she needs to say it.

“This is something you’ve all already heard. Tranquility is a small town, after all, and news like this travels fast.” That gets a few chuckles out of the crowd and she smiles a little, some of her nervousness dissipating. “I had an abusive father. He beat me every day for ten years. He controlled every aspect of my life, if you could even call it that. But it was all I knew. I didn’t know any other way to live. So, when I had the opportunity to get out, I hesitated. I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen to me. I didn’t know where I’d end up. Foster care didn’t sound like a great option, but it was either that or continue to try to survive through the abuse. With some help from people I now care for very much, I got out. For a while my future was very uncertain. All of your futures are now uncertain as well. There is no telling where you will be just months from now. Difficult decisions will need to be made, people left behind, and life’s altered forever. What happens now will define the person you will become. I was able to become stronger, and you will, too. So long as you remember to move along, one day at a time, and trust in the people who care about you, who support you. Even though you don’t know what will happen, don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid. Because there is something great and unimaginable waiting out there for you. You just need to have faith that you will find it. Thank you.”

There is silence for a second and then a roaring applause builds up in the audience, with people standing up from their seats, and whistling, although she’s pretty sure she knows where that’s coming from. She grins widely and steps down to go back to her seat and the graduation begins.

So many things are about to change for them, she can feel it in the diploma in her hand and in the very air as she throws up her cap as high as she can.

She just hopes that it will all be for the better.

As soon as the ceremony is over the crowd builds around her as students and families try to find each other. Her claustrophobia builds in her chest and she quickly presses the yellow button on her pendant so that the Autobots will be able to find her easier. Just a few moments later Sideswipe is wrapping her in a big hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her in circles. She laughs joyfully as the Autobots, Will, and Sarah, carrying the two-year-old Annabelle, surround her, keeping the crowd away.

“So, how does it feel tah be a high school graduate?” Jazz asks, pointing her camcorder at her.

“Pretty awesome,” Ari says as she’s placed back on the ground.

“This requires a party!” Sideswipe says excitedly.

Will’s cell phone chirps in his pocket and he pulls it out to look at the message on the screen. His brow furrows in confusion. “Actually, it looks like we’re gonna have to hold off on the celebrating. We’re wanted back on base.”

“Aw, I thought you requested the entire night off?” Ari asks.

“I did, but apparently someone important showed up on base wanting to talk.”

“About what?”

“Didn’t say, but it’s not me they want to talk to. It’s you.”

* * *

As Ironhide drives Sarah and Annabelle back home, Ari, Will, and the rest of the Autobots head back to base. Who would be wanting to talk to her, she doesn’t know. She just hopes it isn’t Galloway. Though she hasn’t had much trouble with him lately. He’s still frustrated that he can’t find out anything about her, but there’s not really anything he can do at this point. But Galloway is about the only person she knows important enough to be able to call them back when they’re supposed to have this night off. If it isn’t Galloway, who could it possibly be?

When they pull into the Autobot hanger she gets her answer. There, standing atop the scaffold, is a black man wearing all black, even a leather trench coat, with an eye patch over his left eye. She wonders how he lost it, but she does know one thing.

He doesn’t need both eyes to look at her intimidatingly.

“That’s gotta be him,” Will says as he comes to stand beside her.

“Think he has permission to see the Autobots?” Ari asks.

“Probably wouldn’t be here if he didn’t.” He pats the top of Sideswipe’s alt mode. “You guys stretch your legs. We’ll go see what he wants.”

As Will and Ari approach the scaffold and the Autobots transform, their visitor doesn’t even seem slightly startled. Or he just has a very good poker face, like a certain agent she used to know.

“Ari and Will Lennox,” the man says as they climb up to him. “I’ve heard a lot about you two.”

“Good things, I hope,” Will says with a smirk.

“Depends on who you talk to. Galloway certainly likes to say differently, especially about you, Ms. Lennox. Lucky for you, I don’t take a whole lot of stalk in what he says.”

Ari smiles. “Neither do I, Mr.….”

“Fury.” He holds out his hand and Will and Ari shake his hand in turn. “Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Her eyebrows rise to her hairline. Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Well, at least that explains the expressionless face. She wonders if that’s one of the job requirements. “Why would the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. come all the way here just to talk to me?”

“I’ve recently heard you want to become the Autobot Ambassador. Is this true?”

“Yes, it is. Why do you ask?” If he’s about to tell her she can’t, there will be words.

“Being an ambassador won’t be easy. What makes you think you’re equipped for the job?”

Ari straightens, holding her head high in confidence. “There are humans, like Galloway, who believe they can push the Autobots around until they get what they want. They don’t respect them because they aren’t human. But maybe a human ambassador will be able to push back and show them they’re not as high and mighty as they believe.”

“And you believe that’s you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“That’ll take skills you don’t have.”

“Then I’ll learn them.”

“These politicians you’re planning on facing, they can be ruthless.”

“I can be just as ruthless. These Autobots, these _people_ , are my family. And nobody messes with my family.”

Director Fury is quiet as his one eye searches both of hers. She’s not sure what he’s searching for, or if he finds it, but then he says, “If you’re going to do this you’ll need a teacher.”

“I plan on going to one of the most accredited colleges in the state.”

“I’m talking about more than just college. College will teach you the basics, but the type of skill set you’ll need can’t be found in any school. It can only be learned from the best.”

“And who are the best?”

“I don’t know if I’m the best,” a new voice says, “but hopefully I’ll do.”

It’s a voice Ari recognizes and she knows can’t possibly be here. But climbing up the other side of the scaffold and stepping up to stand beside Director Fury is Agent Phil Coulson. But he can’t be. He died. His name was among those of the dead from the Chitauri invasion in New York. She goes up to him and pokes him in the chest. “This is real, right?” she asks. “All of this is real? This isn’t a dream and you’re not some android or something?”

A corner of Coulson’s mouth tilts upward. “This is real and, no, I’m not an android.”

She takes a moment to let that sink in, and then she shoves down her insecurities and wraps her arms around him in a fierce hug. “Don’t you ever, _ever_ , do that to me again.”

Coulson’s arms wrap around her lightly and he pats her back. “I don’t plan on it. Didn’t plan on it the first time.”

She pulls away, wiping away a tear that fell down her cheek. “But how? We were told you died.”

“Technically, I did, but they managed to bring me back. Fury just told everyone I was dead because the Avengers needed a little…push. Then I went on a nice vacation to Tahiti.”

“And you couldn’t let me know you were okay?”

“The important thing is he’s here now,” Fury interrupts, “and he’s going to be your teacher when you finish college.”

Ari’s face brightens. “Really?”

“Really,” Coulson confirms. “So in four years, I hope you’ll be ready because I won’t be going easy on you.”

Ari laughs nervously. “Actually, it won’t be four years. Probably more like two.”

For once Coulson looks confused but he’s just going to have to stay that way.

* * *

In space, above Earth’s atmosphere, the Decepticon known as Soundwave has attached himself to one of the humans’ satellites. He’s been using it for about an orn trying to locate the Autoscum’s base and the AllSpark shard Prime reportedly pulled from Megatron’s chassis.

The shard will be needed if Megatron is to be revived. Starscream proclaims to be the leader of the Decepticons now, but Soundwave’s loyalties will always lie with Megatron and the Fallen. But Starscream isn’t totally useless. His reports of the Witwicky girl are intriguing. However, he has yet to capture the insect. Or find the Matrix.

A small cluster of lights in a desert in what the humans call Nevada causes Soundwave to zoom in for closer inspection.

It seems Soundwave has found the hole they’ve been hiding in.

::Decepticons,:: he says into his Comm Link, ::shard and human girl located.::

* * *

After a long night of celebrating, both her graduation and Coulson’s return to the land of the living, Ari decides to crash for the night in her room on base. As soon as her head hits the pillow she’s out. It’s been such a long day and there’s still so much to do before she starts college in just a few short weeks. She’s been accepted for early admission and gets to start during this year’s summer term instead of waiting until the fall. Things need to be packed, textbooks bought, and so much more. But for now, she sleeps.

Or, at least, that was the plan.

Something wakes Ari from her sleep. At first, all she can feel is a slight itch on her chest as her mind continues to stays relatively out of it. Then it intensifies into a stabbing pain. Her eyes fly open as the pain quickly brings her back into consciousness only to see a true nightmare.

Scalpel is on top of her with one of his knife-like legs cutting into her chest above her tank top about ready to dissect her.

She screams and pushes him off, the leg pulling out of her body, causing the wound to start bleeding. She covers it with one hand, trying to staunch the blood, while grabbing one of her bracelets she keeps on top of the dresser right next to her bed. Slipping it on, she activates the blade.

“Vat is zis?” Scalpel yells in annoyance. “Zee sedative I used should not allow you to be avake! Perhaps a higher dosage vill vork.”

He comes at her and she screams again, lashing out with her blade, and hitting him in the face. The glasses he has on in front of his optics cracks and he glares at her.

The bedroom door flies open, Will and Rob standing there with guns drawn.

“What the Pit?” Will asks.

“Decepticon!” is all Ari says and that’s all they need to know.

They fire on Scalpel before he has a chance to come at her again, but he’s fast, easily dodging their bullets, making his way towards her. She runs for the door and Will and Rob make a hole for her to slip out. She retreats down the hall as they move inside the room. There’s more gunfire and yelling and then Scalpel leaps out of the room, colliding with the wall across from her door. He looks around and then spots her.

“Get back here, insect!”

Ari takes off, getting to the stairs and taking them down two at a time. Before she’s even halfway to the lobby she gets to the pendant that she’s thankfully still wearing, Scalpel not having the mind to remove it, and presses the red button. As soon as she bursts through the doors and out into the dry Nevada night an alarm sounds all throughout the base and the roars of many engines heading her way fill the air. At the forefront is Sideswipe and when he’s close enough he transforms, picks her up in one arm, and aims his blaster at Scalpel who had still been chasing her. Sideswipe holds her high up on his chassis so she’s closer to his head and she wraps her arms around his neck.

Sideswipe fires his blaster at Scalpel, the other Autobots transforming and joining in. Human soldiers arrive as well, answering the call of the alarm. But Scalpel’s speed is enough to keep him unharmed. Then another Decepticon races towards them out of the night, a panther-like bot with only one big optic. The AllSpark knowledge provides her with a name: Ravage. Scalpel jumps onto Ravage’s back next to yet another Decepticon, Reedman, and they disappear into the desert before they can be offlined.

“Slagit!” Sideswipe growls. “When I get my hands on that little ‘Con there’ll be nothing but dust left.”

Ari buries her head where Sideswipe’s neck and shoulder meet. She wishes all that was left of Scalpel was a pile of dust. Although, even if he was, she’s still going to be having nightmares about him for weeks now.

“Ari,” Sideswipe says, sounding worried. “Are you alright?”

She realizes her entire body is shaking and she shakes her head no. “He…He was in my room. I woke up and he was on top of me trying to…to c-cut me open.”

“Let me see, little one,” Ratchet says and she pull away from Sideswipe enough for Ratchet to scan her. “The cut is pretty deep. It’ll probably need stitches. I’m also detecting signs of a strong sedative in your blood, but your body is breaking it down rapidly.”

“I-I heard him say he used a sedative on me, but I woke up anyway.” She closes her eyes tightly. “If I hadn’t woken up….”

Sideswipe’s other hand comes up to cup the side of her head, pressing her gently against him again in a hug. “It’s over now. He won’t be getting to you again. I promise.”

Will and Rob finally catch up, sporting some pretty good-sized bruises and cuts. Ratchet takes one look at them and says, “Let’s move this into the Med Bay.”

By the time they get there her cut no longer needs stitches, just a bandage. Will and Rob aren’t so lucky. As they’re getting stitched up more bad news comes in.

The AllSpark shard has been taken from the separate, supposedly secure location a mile away from the base.

“The attack on Ari must have been a distraction so they could go after the shard without anyone getting in the way,” Rob says as he does his best not to look at the needle Ratchet’s holoform is using to stitch him back together.

“But what good will it do them?” Ari asks from her place still in Sideswipe’s arms. He hasn’t let her go yet, not even when Ratchet was patching her up, and she really doesn’t want him to. “There’s no power left in the shard. The only reason it was locked away was because the scientists hoped to still learn something from it.”

“Yes, but I do not believe the Decepticons knew that,” Optimus says. “They must believe it still holds some power and wish to use it. What they do not know is that all of its power now resides inside you, Ari.”

“But when they do find out it holds no more power,” Ironhide says, “what will they do?”

Ari gulps heavily and her blood runs cold. “They’re going to come after me next.”

“We don’t know that,” Sideswipe insists, but even he doesn’t sound so sure.

“Of course they will. They already know I have something to do with the AllSpark. They’re already curious. My attack wasn’t _just_ a distraction. Scalpel wanted to dissect me and study me to find out why I’m different.”

“They won’t just attack her next time,” Sunstreaker says. “They’ll probably take her.”

Sideswipe growls. “They can try.”

“This is all fine speculation, but there is nothing we can do about it now,” Chromia says. She looks at Ari’s exhausted face. “Everyone’s tired. How about we just get some recharge and from now on Ari doesn’t go anywhere, or even sleep anywhere, alone.”

“She can sleep with Sunny and me,” Sideswipe says and Sunstreaker nods.

Ari sighs tiredly, leaning her head on Sideswipe’s shoulder and closing her eyes. “Sounds good to me.” She could use some sleep. And some company. And curling up on Sideswipe’s chassis is a good combination of the two.

Looks like her future isn’t looking so bright, after all. But she will continue to be strong.

* * *

As Ravage takes them back to the Decepticon base, Scalpel takes the AllSpark shard from Reedman and examines it. As soon as he holds it in his claws he knows something is wrong.

“Shtop!” Scalpel yells, and Ravage halts in is tracks allowing Scalpel and Reedman to climb down. Scalpel looks at the shard more closely, turning it around in his claws over and over again as he scans it. “Zere must be some mistake! Zis shard came from zee Cube, but my sensors detect no AllShpark radiation. Nothink! It holds no power!”

Ravage connects to the Comm Link. ::Ravage to Soundwave. Mission successful but shard no longer contains power.::

::Acknowledged,:: Soundwave responds. ::Human girl most likely to know why. Next mission: retrieve human girl. Decepticons, it is time to mobilize.::

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, it's RotF but I changed stuff. And there's going to be more changes. Like next chapter. Holy Primus, you guys are going to hate me for next chapter.
> 
> But we get to see Fury and Coulson is alive, yay! And all of you Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans, yes, I made a Tahiti reference, but, no, I'm not doing what they did in the series. Coulson't alive. Enough said.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	28. No Time Left

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally planning on doing this entire section...event...thing...in one chapter but it turned out to be a real monster so I decided to split it in two. So, here's the first half and I'll probably be able to post the second half on Friday.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari looks through the bookshelves in her room, trying to decide on what books to bring with her. She has a couple dozen now, but she can't take all of them. Only a few. And weeding through them is proving to be one of the hardest things she's ever had to do. Only taking _some_ of her books. How can she decide? Some of them are a given. She _has_ to bring _Maximum Ride_. It is her oldest companion and friend, always with her through the years, a comforting escape when she needs it most. The others she painstakingly pulls from the shelves, one by one, until the cardboard box is full. Pulling a strip of packaging tape from the roll with a loud rip she seals the box and puts it with the others in a corner of her room. There's not many of them. She still has very few belongings. But it's a lot more than the single box she started with. And it's not like she's taking absolutely everything.

Just everything she'll need for her new life at college.

She leaves in two weeks. Which seems a little unfair to her in some ways. She's only had two years living with her new family. But college is two hours away, even with Sideswipe's driving, and it would be too long of a drive to commute back and forth every day, making it necessary for her to stay in a dorm on campus. Still, she wishes she had more time with them. More time for them to be a family. She wishes she could have met them sooner, the Lennoxes. That she could have grown up with them as her parents. If only she had gotten out sooner…but if she had, then she probably never would have been adopted by them. So much time seems to be lost, though. She's only had them for two years and now she's going away for two years.

"It's not like you won't ever see them again," she whispers to herself, staring up at her starry ceiling. "You'll come back every weekend you can manage, which will probably be almost all of them. You still have a lot of time left to be with them."

Then why does she have this sinking feeling in her gut that she doesn't have any time at all?

"Ari!" Sarah calls from downstairs. "Can you come here for a second?"

Wondering what's up she heads downstairs, finding Sarah near the front door. Sarah gestures for Ari to follow her outside to stand at the feet of Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ironhide.

"Something going on?" Ari asks, hoping it isn't anything bad.

Sideswipe bends down to one knee so he can be level with her. "We just got a call from base. Decepticons have been spotted in Shanghai."

Fear spikes through her system. Yep, bad news. The Autobots and N.E.S.T. have to go out and face more Decepticons, more danger. "How many of them?"

His face looks grim, which isn't very reassuring. "A lot. More than we've faced so far since Mission City. Which is why almost everyone will be going, including Sunny."

Her eyes shoot to Sunstreaker. He hasn't had to be called into battle yet. A part of her hoped he never would be. She's liked having both of the twins with her. Safe, even though looking after her hasn't proven to be very safe recently. The determined look on his face, though, like he's ready to go into battle at a moment's notice, makes her feel better. He's seen plenty of fighting before and survived. He'll do it again. And it's not like he'll be alone.

She looks back at Sideswipe. "Are you going, too?" She prays to Primus he isn't. That's just…no.

How does Sarah deal with Will being a soldier?

Sideswipe shakes his head. "No, I'm not going." Ari keeps herself from sighing in relief. Barely. "The base needs to be constantly protected now that the Decepticons know where it is. That job will be for me and Bumblebee."

Realization clicks as to where he is going with this. "So we need to stay on base for a few days."

"Yeah, just until they get back. They'll only be gone for a day or two depending on how everything goes. That okay?"

She quickly goes over her mental list of everything she still needs to pack and, honestly, there's not much else _to_ pack. "It should be fine. I'll be able to get the rest of my stuff ready to go when we get back and I don't have work at Hal's anymore, so yeah, no problem. Let me just grab enough stuff for a few days and we can roll out."

* * *

The base is more empty than it usually is with most of the soldiers going to Shanghai, leaving only the newest recruits who aren't ready for Decepticon action yet and about a dozen more seasoned N.E.S.T. soldiers still here to help protect the base. Sideswipe and Bumblebee have mostly been busy the past day and a half with patrols, making sure no Decepticons are able to slip on base like last time, leaving Ari no choice but to try to entertain herself. She brought a new book with her and she tries to read it as she lounges on Sideswipe's pillow in his and Sunny's room, but it just doesn't keep her interest for some reason. Her mind keeps wandering away from the words on the pages and she catches herself more than once staring into empty space.

The bad feeling in her gut is growing, twitching, becoming more insistent.

_Stop it, Ari. You're being ridiculous. Nothing bad is going to happen. You're probably just anxious about going away to college. It is a new experience, after all, and it'll be hard to be away from everyone._

Even though she knows she is anxious about college, she also knows this isn't the source of the bad feeling. It feels like the feeling she got when she knew she was going to get a hard beating from Ron. Something wicked this way comes. She just wishes she knew what it was.

With a deep sigh she puts her book back in her messenger bag and curls up on her side on the pillow. There's no use worrying about it now. If the feeling is real, she'll find out what's going on. And soon. Very soon. But in the meantime, since she's not feeling up to much else, she decided to take a nap. She closes her eyes, focusing on her breathing, willing her body to relax.

And then she feels one of the doors in her mind crack open and she's pulled in.

* * *

When Ari wakes up she has no idea where she is. She's already standing, somehow, and she's on top of an overpass, looking out on a landscape unfamiliar to her and passing cars at her back. There looks like what might be a factory of some kind on the ground below her and a city behind her that she does not recognize. She can see billboards from where she stands, though.

Written in Chinese.

Her heart races as she tries to think of how she got here. She remembers falling asleep in the twins' room at the base and then…

The AllSpark knowledge. That's what doing this. It must have wanted to show her something. The knowledge can show her anything that happened from the distant past all the way to the present, although the present is extremely difficult. She can see some things, like the Cybertron war or the inauguration of George Washington, but Primus seems to want to keep her in the dark on some things. She certainly doesn't know the secrets of the universe. But it seems like he wants her to see this now. If she had to guess, this is Shanghai and is either really happening right now or happened not long ago.

Explosions sounding dangerously close cause Ari to turn and what she sees makes her blood freeze. There is a Decepticon rolling her way down the road on a single wheel, a Decepticon larger than any she's ever seen. Optimus is on top of him, looking like a child in comparison, firing at the Decepticon's head and trying to bring him down. Sparks fly and Optimus falls off. But the Decepticon goes down, too, falling off of the overpass into the factory.

Ari blinks and suddenly she's down in the factory as well next to the 'Con who is lying in a broken pile of limbs and wires, sparking in a couple of places. Soldiers and Autobots gather around, weapons still drawn just in case the Decepticon still has the strength to fight. Optimus walks up to the Decepticon and asks, "Any last words?"

The Decepticon stutters, his voice processor starting to fail. "This is not your pla-anet to rule. The Fallen shall rise again."

"Not today," Optimus says and then he shoots the Decepticon in the head, offlining him.

" _Not today, Ari,"_ another voice says, somehow familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. _"But soon."_

* * *

Ari awakes with a gasp, the voice's and the Decepticon's words still ringing in her ears. Thankfully, she knows where she is now. She's back in the twins' room, lying on top of Sideswipe's chassis. It must be night now, with Bumblebee and Sideswipe taking turns recharging. What time of night, she doesn't know, but he seems to be deep in recharge. She curls up tightly on her side again, though she has no intention of going back to sleep.

" _The Fallen shall rise again."_

" _Not today, Ari. But soon."_

She shudders. She knows who the Fallen is. It's something she was allowed to peruse after gaining the AllSpark knowledge. He's the seventh original Prime, the one who succumbed to the influence of Unicron and turned on his brothers. He was defeated, but not destroyed.

And now he's coming back. What for though? Can't be anything good if the AllSpark needed to show her that vision. It was a warning, plain and simple. Primus wanted her to see that, to know that the Fallen is planning something. Something big is about to happen.

An explosion jerks Ari out of her thoughts and Sideswipe out of recharge. His hands automatically envelope her as he sits up, holding her to his chassis.

"What's going on?" Ari asks, gut clenching so tight she can barely stand it. Is this it? Is this the reason she was just warned?

"Decepticons are attacking the base," Sideswipe says, standing up and placing her standing on the berth. "Three of them. Bumblebee needs backup." He looks at her sternly. "You stay here."

Before she can protest he's wheeling out of the room. She doesn't like this. It's two against three, plus a handful of trained soldiers and a couple dozen who still aren't ready for Decepticons yet. They are seriously outnumbered and the others are still probably a few hours out based on the vision she saw. She's never wanted to be a soldier before, but right now she wishes she could do something, anything. She has two knives, some self-defense training for human-sized attackers, and zero expertise on how to take down a Decepticon, basically worse off than the recruits.

Frenzy was easy, he was no bigger than a child and not very smart.

Megatron, well, at least she had the AllSpark as a weapon. And a whole Pit load of luck keeping her from getting crushed before reaching his spark.

So, she's technically offlined two Decepticons, but neither were enough to give her the skills she'd need to be helpful now. Pacing back and forth on the berth, chewing her nails to stubs as she listens to the echoes of gun and blaster fire, she feels so useless. Her hands twitch for action, wanting to help, just not knowing how. Instead she just plops down on the pillow again with frustration, listening to the distant booms. They sound almost like thunder from here. She tries to pretend they are instead of the possibility that people she cares about are getting hurt because of those sounds.

There's more shots, closer this time, and she looks towards the door. They get closer and closer. She stands, eyes still fixed on the door. They can't possibly…but then she hears the loud stomping of Cybertronian feet running her way. Perhaps it's just Sideswipe, coming to grab her and take her someplace safe because things are getting bad.

However, the deep dread building in her gut, just like it has for a while now, tells her otherwise.

The stomping stops right outside the door. It creaks open. Standing in the doorway is Barricade, his red optics gleaming with sinister delight when they spot her.

"I've been looking forward to this, fleshling," he growls as he stalks towards her. Ari activates her wrist blades and swipes at the hand that makes a grab at her. She catches a wire, severing it, and Barricade withdraws with an irritated hiss. "You're lucky we need you alive." He tries to grab her again and this time she stabs a blade into the joint of one of his fingers. When she pulls the blade out something sparks in his finger and it starts twitching uncontrollably. Barricade yells in pain, holding his injured hand with the other, and Ari uses the distraction to slip off the berth and make a run for the door, pressing on the red button of her pendant as she goes. Help will be here soon. She just needs to dodge him long enough for it to get here.

Too bad that, at the end of the hallway, Ravage stands in her way, crouched down as if ready to pounce if she so much as breathes wrong.

She stops in her tracks, not needing turn around to know that the footsteps behind her are Barricade catching up.

"You're coming with us, insect," Barricade says and then his hand wraps tightly around her to where she can hardly breathe, lifting her off of the ground. It doesn't last long, though, because he transforms so that she ends up in the back of his police cruiser alt mode, locked inside with the seatbelt strapping her to the seat and keeping her arms pinned to her sides. She tries to angle her wrist so that she can use her blades to cut herself free but it's useless.

She's trapped.

"Help!" she calls out desperately as Barricade speeds through the base, Ravage running behind them. "Somebody help!"

But there's no one to help her. When they enter the main hanger she sees everyone preoccupied fighting Blackout and two other Decepticons she doesn't recognize. She can feel the AllSpark starting to offer up their names but she ignores it. What good will it do her now?

She catches a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. "Sideswipe!"

Sideswipe's head turns, optics widening when he sees her. He tries to go after her but then Blackout tackles him to the ground. Ari can only watch him fade further and further away as Barricade takes her from the base, the sky slowly lightening with the sun's first rays. This is the end for her. There's going to be no coming back from this. Because she knows what they're going to do to her. What Scalpel plans to do to her.

A sweet sent blows through the AC vents and her eyes start to get heavy. Her last thought before everything goes black is that she wishes she had more time. More time with her family, her friends.

More time to tell Sideswipe….

* * *

By the time the Decepticons fall back it's too late. Barricade is long gone and there's not trace of where he went.

No trace of where Ari went.

Sideswipe wants to go after them anyway but Bumblebee and the soldiers tell him it's no use. He'll just be going on what the humans call "a wild goose chase." He'd never find them, not on his own. It's best just to wait for the others to get back.

But the anger he feels at himself, at the Decepticons, and the fear of what she might be going through, is making his spark roil painfully in his chassis. His spark yearns to have her back. If anything happens to her, he'll never forgive himself. He promised Ari he'd keep her safe. He _promised_.

And he failed.

" _It wasn't your fault, Sideswipe,"_ Sunstreaker says over the bond. Sunny already knows what happened, he felt Sideswipe's fear when Sides saw Ari trapped in Barricade's alt mode, and he filled the others in on the situation. They're on their way back right now but they're still an hour or two out.

" _Of course it's my fault, Sunny,"_ Sideswipe says, self-loathing coursing through the bond. _"I'm her Guardian. It was my job to protect her."_

" _Hey, you aren't the only one who failed. I came with you when you decided to be her Guardian. I'm her Guardian, too. And you weren't the only one of us who promised to protect her. We_ all _made that promise. But that doesn't matter now. What matters is getting her back as quickly as possible. Ratchet says the tracker in her pendant is still moving so she still has it on her."_

Hope flutters in his spark. _"Just tell me where it is and I'll go get her."_

" _No, mech, not a chance."_

" _Why not?"_ Sideswipe growls.

" _Because it's too dangerous, you going after her alone. The last thing we need is for you to get captured too."_

" _So, what, you want me to just sit here?"_

" _Yes. Yes, I do. And Ari would want you to, too."_

* * *

Ari groans softly as her mind struggles to focus but it's like swimming through molasses. Everything is foggy. Her memories. She can't remember where she is. Her hearing. She hears noises but they're muffled, jumbled, like her ears are filled with cotton. Her eyes. She cracks them open but there is a blinding light shining down on her, causing them to sting. She turns her head away but all she sees are blobs and blurs.

"Aw, she is avake," a voice near her head says. A voice she knows, one that haunts her dreams. Fear and adrenaline snap her back into awareness. She can feel coldness soaking through her clothes beneath her. A metal surface. She tries to move her limbs but can't. Looking down at herself, she finds four velcro straps pinning her down to a Cybertronian-sized table across her ankles, thighs, stomach, and shoulders. She sees her bracelets lying on the table to her left but they are much too far away for her to reach.

And standing on her other side is Scalpel.

"I had Barricade gif you enough sedatives to kill one of your Earth mammals," Scalpel says. "An elephant I believe it is called. Shtill your metabolism vorks faster zan anticipated. I expected you to remain unconscious for a few more hours." He holds up one of his claws, the sharp blade gleaming in the light from the spotlight hovering above her, like what they have at the dentist's. The claw inches closer to her neck. When the metal presses against her skin she closes her eyes tightly. "I suppose you'll just have to remain avake for zee operation."

The claw moves lower to her chest and presses down harder. Ari starts to shake, wanting to call out to Sideswipe but knowing he's nowhere near. She's going to be dissected while wide awake and all she can do is whimper quietly as the claw slowly presses harder and harder into her skin. Before it can become painful the sound of footsteps echoes down the hall, coming closer. Though it isn't really a hall, Ari realizes. It's a tunnel. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made out of rock. It's a massive cave. Scalpel tisks but pulls away as Starscream, Barricade, and Ravage enter the cavern, Ravage jumping up on the table to pace back and forth near her feet.

"Look what we have here," Starscream says with a malicious grin. "A pesky little insect that's always buzzing just out of our reach. But we have you now."

"What are we going to do with her?" Barricade asks. "Can we kill her?"

"No," Starscream snaps and Barricade grimaces. "There is something odd about this human. Something having to do with the AllSpark. And I want to find out what." He looks at Scalpel. "Doctor. What have you found?"

"A full biopsy vill be zee most tellink, but I haf examined her body. Zere is somethink curious on her left forearm." He turns her arm, exposing her marks.

_Primus, no. They're going to figure it out._

Starscream's optics widen in surprise. "Those are Cybertronian symbols, for 'AllSpark' and 'knowledge.'"

"Are they, what do humans call it," Barricade looks something up on the internet real quick, "tattoos?"

Scalpel shakes his head. "No, zey are not made of ink. Zere is Cybertronian circuitry underneath zee skin. It vas not surgically added. It is as if it grew zere."

"Grew there?" Starscream asks. "When?"

"Roughly two shtellar cycles ago."

"That's when we arrived on this planet," Barricade says. "That's…That's when the AllSpark was destroyed."

Starscream's optics narrow at her. "In that human city…the AllSpark reacted to her in ways no one has ever seen before. Is it possible it did something to her before it was destroyed?"

"Hmm, interestink hypothesis," Scalpel says. "Vee need more information."

Starscream nods to Ravage and the big cat launches himself at her. She flinches away but he simply stands next to her, shoving one of his big paws onto her chest, razor nails extended.

"Tell us, human, what happened?" Starscream orders.

Ari stares at the ceiling, pressing her lips together stubbornly.

Ravage's nails dig into her skin causing her to hiss sharply as the skin breaks. She doesn't need to look to know she's bleeding.

"Tell us!"

"No," she says. She's not going to talk. They won't kill her. They're too curious and won't get what they want if they do. But there are other ways to get information, ways she's not sure she'll be able to stand against.

Starscream growls. "Very well. Doctor."

Ravage backs away as Scalpel runs a red light over her body, scanning her just like Ratchet. "Fery interestink."

"What do your scans show?"

"The human's entire body has been altered, eshpecially the brain. Zis should not be possible. I need more information! A more direct approach perhaps." Scalpel crawls off the table and when he comes back he is holding some kind of slimy, metal worm.

"What…What do you plan on doing with that?" Ari asks.

Scalpel smiles at her. "Gettink zee information vee need. From zee source."

He drops the worm on top of her and then uses his claws to forcefully hold her mouth open, stretching it until her jaw aches. The worm slithers into her mouth, making her gag, and some of the worm's slime drips down her chin. It crawls all throughout her head, even into her nose, and she almost throws up. An intense pain shoots through her head, and then the worm crawls back out of her mouth. She feels really sick now, like she still wants to throw up, and she moans softly, trying to push it down and concentrate. Scalpel takes the worm, connecting to it to project images in front of them with a hologram. The images flash by really fast, images she recognizes.

They're her memories. Everything that happened with Ron. Her time with Sideswipe. The stuff with the AllSpark. All of it.

The Decepticons stare at the images intently, their optics slowly widening in shock.

_They know. Oh, Primus, they know._

"That's…not possible," Barricade says disbelievingly.

"But it appears it is," Starscream says, looking at her with hungry eyes. "She's the new vessel for the AllSpark."

* * *

It is well into morning by the time the planes arrive containing the rest of the Autobots and N.E.S.T. Sideswipe hasn't been able to stand still during the two hour wait. He wants to get going. He wants to find Ari. He _needs_ to find her.

Sunstreaker transforms and rolls straight to his brother's side, the two twins sticking together during times of trouble. Sideswipe draws comfort from his brother's presence. Together they create an unstoppable force no Decepticon has ever been able to defeat. Together they can bring Ari home.

When Will and Rob step off the plane Sideswipe flinches. Sideswipe isn't the only one who deeply cares for Ari. Will cares for Ari as if she were his sparkling by blood, and his face is hard, determined, a soldier's mask ready to push down any personal feelings in order to do what needs being done. But his eyes give him away. He's worried about his daughter just as much as Sideswipe is.

And Sideswipe wasn't able to keep her safe.

When Will walks up to his feet Sideswipe expects to get a verbal thrashing worse than any he's received from Ratchet or Ironhide. But instead Will just pats him on the knee, causing Sideswipe to look down at the human in surprise.

"It's not your fault," Will says, voice stoic, but Sideswipe can hear the sincerity in it. Sideswipe just nods, unable to say anything because he does not feel the same.

The N.E.S.T. soldiers look tired. They probably haven't properly recharged in at least twenty-four hours unless they managed to get some on the flight back. Still, none of them go back to their dorms. They know Ari's been taken and they want to find her as well. They've all met her since she always helps out with the initial introductions for new recruits. But it's more than just knowing her or her being their major's daughter. Ari may never realized it, but her smile and kindness reached more than just the Autobots. It reached the soldiers, too. She may not ever be around base long enough to really get to know any of them, but they all noticed her, like a bright star in the night sky, whenever she was on base.

And now it's time to get her back.

Optimus steps forward and everyone gathers around, tension and anticipation thick in the air. "As you all know, Ari has been taken by the Decepticons. We _must_ get her back. Her tracker was disabled some time ago, but her last known location is fifty miles west of here. It is our belief that she made it to their base before the tracker was discovered. This mission will be the most dangerous we have ever faced. We have no intel on the Decepticon base. We do not know the layout or how many Decepticons will be there. If there are any who do not wish to go, I understand." Not a single soldier walks away. Instead, they all stand just a little bit straighter. The corners of Optimus's mouth curl up in a small smile. "Very well then. Let's roll out!"

Finally, _finally_ , Sideswipe is able to transform and head out into the desert, heading towards the coordinates Ratchet sends to everyone. He takes the lead of the procession and no one argues with him. They just follow his lead and keep up.

_Hang on, Ari. I'm coming._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, horrible ending! I swear I wasn't originally planning on a cliffy, but I had to split it in two somewhere. You'll find out what happens soon, I promise. But do you remember how I said last chapter you're going to hate me for the next chapter? Yeah, that happens next chapter. You know, just to give you something to look forward to.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	29. Broken Promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suppose last chapter was a bit of a love/hate relationship. This chapter is a bit like that as well. Cause not everything that happens is pretty.
> 
> Yeah, the hate is pretty much a guarantee.
> 
> Oh, well, go onward and enjoy!

Not long after Starscream gives Scalpel the go-ahead to start experimenting on her, they find her pendant. Starscream isn't happy at all, crushing it in an instant. He barks out orders to the other Decepticons, telling them to take up posts around the cave entrance and keep an eye out for the Autobots. For once, Starscream looks a little nervous and a trickle of hope spreads through Ari. Surely she was able to keep the pendant long enough for the Autobots to get a fix on her location. They have to be on their way to rescue her by now. If Sideswipe decided to come on his own, then he'll be here any minute. Although she wants to get out of here as soon as possible she doesn't like the idea of Sideswipe taking on so many Decepticons on his own. It would probably be suicide, even for him.

Meaning, hopefully, he waited for the other Autobots and N.E.S.T. soldiers to get back. Or, at least, Bumblebee forced him to. But if that's the case, then she has a while to wait yet before she'll be rescued. And waiting is going to mean a lot of pain.

Starscream wants to be able to harness the AllSpark and create a new army, just like Megatron wanted to do two years ago. At first, they just bring her an ordinary car and order her to turn it into a Cybertronian. She tells them she can't, opting for honesty and saying how she hasn't unlocked all of the AllSpark powers yet. All she has is knowledge.

Then the torture starts.

Scalpel runs wires from the generator in the corner of the room that looks to be what's powering all of the ceiling lights drilled into the cave ceiling. He takes the two wires, holds them close together, and shows her the current of electricity flowing through them as an arc of energy jumps from one wire to the other. "If you von't villingly use the AllShpark for us, zen perhaps zis vill cause a reaction."

He touches the ends of the wires to either side of her head and the electricity shoots through her, causing intense pain to where she nearly blacks out. Her body seizes, jerking around uncontrollably against the straps holding her down, thankfully keeping her from hurting herself.

This goes on for…she's not sure how long exactly. Scalpel gradually electrifies her for longer and longer periods of time. The smell of her burning flesh fills the room, but her increased healing keeps her from ever becoming too hurt. A part of her is thankful for that, but the rest of her knows it means this torture will be able to continue for that much longer.

Eventually she does pass out though, but not for very long she's guessing when she comes to. Scalpel and Starscream are talking in Cybertronian, Starscream holding up the AllSpark shard they stole from the N.E.S.T. base in one hand.

"Do you think it will work, Doctor?" Starscream asks in Cybertronian, the AllSpark knowledge allowing Ari to understand what's being said. She can't speak the language though, unfortunately. She's often wished she could, but her mouth and vocal cords are just incapable of making a lot of the necessary sounds.

"Only one way to find out," Scalpel says, his accent gone in his native tongue. He takes the shard from Starscream and approaches her, holding it close to her body. Familiar blue sparks shoot out, this time coming from her and arcing towards the shard. Slowly, she can feel something leaving her and she becomes tired, like she's run for miles and miles in just a few short seconds and now her body is exhausted from the exertion. When the blue sparks fade away her vision is spotted black and she's afraid she's going to pass out again. She can barely even turn her head as she tries to look at the shard, wanting to find out what just happened.

Scalpel scans the shard and then laughs in maniacal glee. "It vorked," he says, in English this time. "I am detectink AllShpark energy inside zee shard. It can now be used just like zee Cube."

Starscream takes the shard, his own glee written on his faceplates. "Excellent. With this we can defeat those Autoscum once and for all."

Barricade grabs Starscream's wrist, their optics shooting to each other in hostility. "We use the shard to awaken Megatron," Barricade says, his voice leaving no room for argument.

Though Starscream won't back down without a fight. He tries to jerk his arm away, instead just knocking into the table Ari is on. The movement causes one of her bracelets to slide closer to her and with what remaining strength she has left Ari strains her fingers to stretch as far as they can, reaching for the bracelet, while keeping an eye on the three Decepticons making sure they don't notice what she's doing.

"We don't need him!" Starscream yells. "With the shard we can-"

Her middle finger barely glances across the top of her bracelet. She tries again and again to catch enough of it to nudge closer to her.

"No," Barricade snaps, his grip tightening on Starscream's wrist. "The Fallen's orders are to awakening Megatron. Unless you plan on going against the Fallen?"

Ari and Starscream both shudder. Ari has seen the Fallen in visions, but she's guessing Starscream has met him personally. From what she can tell, no one goes against the Fallen without severe consequences, usually the deadly kind. Starscream seems to know that as well and he nods, allowing Barricade to take the shard.

As Starscream leaves the room Ari is finally able to curl her finger around her bracelet and she quickly hides it beneath herself. No one seems to have noticed. The feelings of relief from her small victory are the tipping point though and she can't hold onto consciousness anymore, her mind fading into the black once more.

* * *

When she awakens again she is blissfully alone. She was afraid Scalpel would still be here but he must have been called away for something. Probably for discussing how to bring Megatron back online.

Megatron. Ari was hoping she'd never have to see his faceplates again, but it seems she isn't going to get her wish. How bad will things be once Megatron is online and leading the Decepticons again? What is it that the Fallen is planning? She gets the feeling that, once Megatron is back, it'll be like Mission City all over again. Only worse this time.

And, so long as she stays here, they'll use her to get what they want.

_Then I guess it's time I find a way out of here._

Her strength is mostly back after the torturing and the draining from the shard. Whatever the shard took back, it must not have been enough to cause any lasting effects, just an initial feeling of loss. It was intense, but thankfully not lasting. Whether she'll be able to stand is a different story, but she won't know until she tries. And she may never get another chance to escape. She hopes the Autobots are on their way, maybe even almost here, but the thought of being tortured again, for any length of time, prompts her to act now.

She pulls the bracelet out from underneath her, thankfully still there and undiscovered. Pushing down on the gem, she activates the blade. It's hard to really see what she's doing so she has to feel her way, turning the blade in her hand so that it's positioned against the inside of the strap keeping her arms pinned near her wrists. Slowly, she starts to saw her way through the thick velcro. It's frustrating and time-consuming considering the angle she has to cut at and the blade slips several times, but eventually the strap snaps and falls away. Now able to bend her arms, she moves to the strap at her shoulders, making quick work of it and then the rest until she is free. She slips both bracelets on and then attempts to stand. She's shaky at first, the blood rushing to her head because she gets up too fast after laying down in one position for so long, but after standing still for a few moments she's steady again. She feels good. Good enough, maybe, for an escape. At the very least maybe she can find a hiding spot until the Autobots arrive.

But one thing at a time.

Getting to the floor is easy. She's slipped off of Cybertronian-sized tables many times and she does so now with ease. Then she makes her way to the edge of the cave wall near the only tunnel branching off of this room. The lights they have jammed into the rock ceiling aren't very bright, leaving a lot of shadows that she hides in.

Though, if she runs into any Decepticons, they will still be able to see her just fine.

With a deep breath, Ari creeps down the tunnel, ears peeled for the sound of Cybertronian feet. At least it'll be easy to tell when they're coming, but she has absolutely no idea what she's doing. What if she gets caught? What if she can't find the exit? What if she _does_ find the exit? Will she be able to slip away without being seen? And if she can, will she even be able to tell which direction to go in order to get back to base?

That last question she actually has an answer to. She'll follow the stars. People in ancient times used them as a map to guide them. She can do the same.

But for now she walks.

And walks. And walks some more. The tunnel seems to go on forever although it probably just seems long because she doesn't have the stride of a Cybertronian. There are several offshoot tunnels, but they are smaller and look unnaturally made because of their perfect circumferences and smooth walls. They are also dark, lacking the lights of the bigger tunnel. Ari guesses that the bigger tunnel she is in is the original, natural tunnel and when the Decepticons moved in they extended the cave to suit their own needs. That means that this tunnel is the most likely to lead her to an exit. It seems to be her best option, and her only option. At some of the offshoots she stops at she can hear voices bouncing off the tunnel walls. So she keeps walking.

Then she hears popping. And banging, booming. It's the sound of battle and it makes Ari grin. The Autobots are here and she starts running, running like her life depends on it and it does because all around her, from the offshoot tunnels, there are shouts and stomping of Cybertronian feet heading her way. The main tunnel fills with about half a dozen Decepticon all heading towards the fight. Fear jolts through her as she waits, just waits, for one of them to notice her. But they don't. They just keep running past her, never looking down, never seeing her. A delighted laugh bubbles up in her chest but she clamps it down and keeps running. That is, until a feline yowl, like a panther, comes from behind her. She glances behind her over her shoulder and Ravage's one, giant optic is staring right at her from where he stands at the entrance to one of the tunnels. She faces forward, forcing her legs to run faster, and, with nothing else left to do, she screams, "Sideswipe!"

Ravage yowls again and she looks back in time to see him pounce at her. She throws herself down to the floor and Ravage flies over her, missing her. He skids in front of her, his claws scratching the rock floor, and knocks into to wall. Ari gets back up and runs.

"Sideswipe!"

"Ari!" she hears a voice call out, Sideswipe's voice, somewhere further down the tunnel. Relief floods her harder than she's ever felt before and she has to choke back a sob.

She can hear Ravage getting back up behind her. "Sideswipe, help!"

"Ari!"

Coming around the bend up ahead, rolling on his feet as fast as he can, is Sideswipe, flanked by Sunstreaker and Bumblebee. This time a sob does escape, tears prickling at the back of her eyes, but she blinks them away and keeps on running. Sunstreaker skates forward in the lead, legs spread wide so that she runs right between them. She looks back to see Sunny tackle Ravage, who had been dangerously close to catching her. When she looks forward again it's just in time for Sideswipe to scoop her up in his arms, pressing her tightly to his chassis. He spins a one-eighty on his wheels and they're zooming back down the tunnel towards the exit.

Ari reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck, holding onto him as tightly as she can. "I knew you'd come for me," she whispers.

Sideswipe tightens his hold on her. "I'll always come for you, sweetspark. Always."

The wind whips by as they race through the tunnel, Sunstreaker rejoining them after not too long. What happened to Ravage she doesn't know, but she doesn't really care right now. She's safe. She's back with Sideswipe. Soon she'll be out of this horrible place and back home.

But first, there are about a dozen Decepticons to get through. The main chamber of the cave is filled with blaster- and gunfire, Decepticons, Autobots, and N.E.S.T. soldiers scattered everywhere. She can see the halo of light coming in from the hole leading to the outside. Thing is, there's a literal war zone between them and the cave entrance.

"Hang on tight," Sideswipe says and he charges forward, dodging left and right around the fighting people. Sunstreaker and Bumblebee beat back any Decepticons who get too close. They get halfway and things look good.

Then Sideswipe is hit in the shoulder from behind, metal and energon bursting out as the blast shoots clean through and Sideswipe falls forward to the ground, protecting Ari with his arms to keep her from being crushed. The impact causes her to tumble out of Sideswipe's grasp, rolling to a jarring halt a few meters away.

"Ari!" Sideswipe yells, looking somewhere behind her with alarm. She turns her head to see two Decepticons running straight at her. She quickly rolls again out of the way just before their feet squish her. Looking up she sees the two Decepticons each tackle Sunstreaker and Bumblebee as Sideswipe tries to get up using only one arm, holding his other arm with the hurt shoulder close to his chest. She gets up, running towards him, but before she's even halfway there Barricade appears behind Sideswipe and shoots him in the back again and again and again. Ari stops dead in her tracks, wide-eyed, as Sideswipe's faceplates contort in pain and he falls face first to the ground again.

"No, Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker yells, his own optics filled with pain as he feels his brother's pain through their bond. Sunstreaker shakes off his Decepticon, stabs him in the head with one of his blades, and launches himself at Barricade. The two fight, but all Ari can see is Sideswipe lying on the ground, energon pooling beneath him.

"Sideswipe?" she says weakly, slowly walking towards him. When she's close she kneels down at his head so that he can see her. His optics are flickering between dim to fully online but they are online. "Sideswipe?" she says again, pressing a hand to his cheek.

Sideswipe's optics move sluggishly until they focus on her and he gives her a small, weak smile. "Hey, Ari," he says barely above a whisper. "I…I c-came for y-you."

Ari smiles back, or at least tries to. Tears build up in her eyes again and she blinks them away again. She needs to see his face. She needs to make sure he's okay. He _has_ to be okay.

Even though, as she looks at the gaping hole in his chassis, she knows he's not. Wires are sparking, energon leaking. Looking up, she sees Sunstreaker leaving a battered Barricade to run towards Ratchet.

"It's going to be okay," Ari says, looking into Sideswipe's optics and stroking the side of his face. "Everything is going to be okay."

Sideswipe coughs a few times, sounding choked, strained. "You…You're a terrible liar."

"I know….I know." The tears come back, one more time, and this time she lets them fall. This is her Sideswipe lying in front of her, so completely broken. Her Sideswipe, who's always seemed so strong to her, so completely incapable of getting hurt, or, at least, nothing so bad that a little buffering and polishing wouldn't fix. Ratchet and Sunstreaker come running up, Ratchet kneeling down next to Sideswipe and he and Sunstreaker flip Sideswipe onto his back. Sunny then stands, on guard, not allowing any danger to get close. The battle continues around them but things are starting to slow down a bit. There are less Decepticons, most of them either already offline, gone, or in the process of retreating. Starscream, Scalpel, and Ravage are nowhere to be seen. Barricade too.

"Sideswipe," Ratchet says, glancing between where his hands are working on the hole and Sideswipe's face. "Sideswipe, talk to me."

"Hey, Hatchet," Sideswipe says, his voice getting weaker and weaker and slightly on the loopy side. "What's up?"

"Well, it looks like you're not doing so good, youngling."

"Uh oh, you're not gonna…use the wrench on me, are you?"

"Hmm, I might have to." Something inside Sideswipe's chassis sparks erratically and Ratchet yanks his hand away with a hiss of pain. He glances around the damage for a few seconds, unmoving, and then he retracts his other hand from Sideswipe's chest, both hands falling to his sides. He looks at Sunstreaker and then at her, defeat in his optics. "I'm sorry."

Ari shakes her head slowly. "No. Th-There has to be something you can do. You-"

"There isn't, little one. The shot nicked his spark chamber. It's hanging together by a thread. I need my tools back at base in order to fix it and moving him is too dangerous. Even if we could move him, his spark would go critical before we made it there. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I can't save him."

Ratchet moves away, joining the crowd of Autobots and soldiers now surrounding them. They had won the battle but that hardly matters now. It's written on everyone's faces. In a way, they lost. Optimus talks quietly to them and they all move away to give her, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker some space.

Sunstreaker kneels beside his brother, taking Sideswipe's hand. "Hey, bro."

"He…Hey, Sunny," Sideswipe whispers. His optics seem so far away now, nowhere near the brilliant blue she remembers.

"You…You're not supposed to do this to me, mech," Sunny says, his usual confident self faltering. "We're the Kings of Pranks, Twins of Terror. Everything we do, we do together. Even this. We're supposed to go down together. Although, I guess we still might."

Sideswipe squeezes Sunstreaker's hand with whatever strength he has left. "No. No, don't you go thinking like that. You'll be fine."

"Sides, I…I can feel you offlining. The bond is breaking and once it's gone…I don't think I'll be able to survive it."

"Sure you will. I-It's happened before. Twin bonds aren't as…s-strong…as sparkmate bonds. There's a g-good chance you'll be alright."

Sunstreaker shakes his head but doesn't say anything more. He isn't going to be alright, Ari knows. This is going to tear him apart. Just like it is her. Tears freely flow down her face and she doesn't bother even trying to stop it now.

"Ari? Where's my Ari?" Sideswipe's head flops to the side, back towards her. She moves closer so that he can see her better and she resumes stroking his face.

"Hey, Sides," she says softly. "You're not allowed to leave me either, Sideswipe. You promised you'd always be here for me, remember? You promised."

"I know, sweetspark, but it looks l-like I'll be b-breaking that pro-omise." His speech is getting more slurred and broken. He doesn't have much time left.

Ari's chest clenches and heaves. It hurts so much. She wants to say something but the pain in her chest is suffocating, choking her. She clenches her hand in her lap. There should be something she can do. She's the AllSpark. Power courses through her veins, power as old as the universe. There _has_ to be something she can do.

And there is.

Ari wipes her tears away with the back of her arm and takes deep, steadying breaths. And then she looks down at her arm and touches a finger to her AllSpark mark. It glows a soft blue on her skin. "Please," she whispers, "Primus, please, I need help. Sideswipe is dying and there's nothing anyone can do to save him. I need the mark from Mission City, the one that healed Sideswipe and Jazz during the battle. It's his only chance." She looks back and forth between her arm and Sideswipe's dimming optics. They're almost completely black now.

"He…He's almost gone," Sunstreaker says. "He's gone into emergency stasis lock in an attempt to save himself, but I can feel his systems shutting down."

"No." Ari grips her arm tightly. "No, you can't do this to me. You can't do this to me!" She bends in half, curling in on herself, and squeezing her eyes tight as more tears come. "Please. Don't take him from me. I…I love him. I love him. Please don't take him from me."

Sunstreaker doesn't say a word as Ari just sits there, crying. It's something she's never fully admitted to anyone, not even herself. She told herself she never would but now Sideswipe is dying and she wishes she had the guts to say it sooner but now it's too late. He'll never know how she feels.

"I love you. I love you, Sideswipe."

Sudden, intense pain shoots through Ari's entire body and she jerks up, mouth gaping like a fish. There is yelling all around her, but she isn't afraid. She knows exactly what's happening and she's so very happy.

* * *

The second she wakes up in the desert she's on her feet, running towards the craggy mountains and the six Primes waiting for her there.

"Please, you have to help me," she begs. "Sideswipe is dying."

"We know," the lead Prime says. "Primus heard you."

"Does my being here mean you're going to help me? I-I know I haven't done anything to earn this one, but please, you have to help me. Don't let him die."

The femme kneels on the ground in front of Ari, a soft smile on her face. "But you did do something to earn this one, Ari."

Ari looks at her blankly. "W-What? What did I do? All I did was get myself kidnapped and then allowed them to take some of the AllSpark energy from me and put in a shard so they can wake up Megatron. I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of earning a mark."

The femme chuckles. "Do not worry about that, Ari. Everything has its purpose. But that is not what I was referring to. You earned the mark when you admitted you love Sideswipe."

Her breath hitches in her throat as a blush crawls up her neck. "But how…Why…Why does that count?"

"Because you are willing to love and care for someone so completely who is not even your own species. Your heart is pure. You love him even though you know how impossible a relationship between the two of you would be."

Ari looks down at her feet, fists clenched at her sides. "Is a relationship between the two of us so…impossible?" she asks quietly.

The femme places a finger beneath Ari's chin and tilts her head back up. "We cannot reveal everything to you, Ari. Not even we know all of Primus's plans. But I will tell you this: Do not reject these feelings inside of you. They are not wrong or disgusting. Just follow your heart. It will not lead you astray."

"But what about…Sideswipe?"

"Oh, I cannot tell you how he feels about you," the femme says with a smirk. "That would spoil the fun."

Ari sighs heavily. "Alright. So long as he's still going to be with me, that's all I need."

"Then go to him."

* * *

Ari awakens with a gasp, lying on the ground with her head propped in Will's lap. The concerned faces of soldiers and Autobots surround her but they do not matter now. She raises her left arm. On her skin, beneath the AllSpark mark and right next to the knowledge mark so that they make a triangle grouping, is a new mark. It says "healing" in Cybertronian.

"Move!" she orders as she quickly stands, pushing through people until she reaches Sideswipe. Sunstreaker is still at his brother's side, face dour. He glances at her as she climbs up to kneel on Sideswipe's chassis right in front of the gaping hole. "How is he?"

"I can barely feel him now," Sunstreaker says softly, sounding so unlike himself.

"Don't worry, Sunny. I'm going to save him." Ari holds her hands over the wound, palms down. Reaching into herself, she searches for the power of the AllSpark she's always been able to feel, but now there is a part of it that feels more solid. She grabs a hold of it and pulls it to the surface. The new mark begins to glow and blue sparks ripple down her arms to her hands and down into Sideswipe. She pushes the power to go where it needs to go, into the gap, first focusing on the spark chamber. Slowly, all of Sideswipe's parts move back into their proper places, the sparks fixing what needs fixing, wires sealing together again, metal reforming, until the gap is completely closed. She lowers her arms, wobbling side to side. That took a lot of energy, she can feel her eyes getting heavy and her grip on consciousness slipping, but she's determined to stay awake. At least long enough to make sure.

And when she feels Sideswipe take in a deep breath again, she lets go.

* * *

When Ari's mind drifts back into consciousness all she wants to to is turn over and go right back to sleep. Although turning over seems like too much effort. All of her limbs feel really heavy, like how she felt after her first training sessions with Chromia and Ironhide. She had never pushed her muscles so hard before and they were unused to so much exertion. It kind of feels like that times ten now. As she starts to drift off again something prickles in the back of her mind. Something important. There's something important she needs to remember. But what? Is it a school assignment she hasn't done yet? No, it's summer now. School hasn't started yet. Is it packing she needs to get done? Well, yes, there's still some packing she has to do, but she can do that when she gets home. Her and Sideswipe had to go to the base because almost everyone else had to go to Shanghai. Thinking of Sideswipe makes the prickling intensify. Sideswipe. Something happened with Sideswipe. Something bad.

Her eyes snap open as the past day's events flash through her head. "Sideswipe!" she yells, forcing her tired body to sit up in the bed she's lying on. "Sideswipe!"

Ratchet's holoform appears right next to her. "It's okay, little one," he says soothingly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, you're safe now."

Ari grasps his hand, taking comfort in Rachet's presence, and takes a clear look around. She's in the Med Bay back at base, lying in one of the hospital beds on the human platform. And across the room lying on a berth is Sideswipe, optics offline, with Sunstreaker sitting in a chair next to him.

"Is…Is he okay?" Ari asks, never taking her eyes off of Sideswipe.

"He's still in stasis lock right now," Ratchet says. "I've made sure his systems keep him under as I look him over. You managed to fix most of the severe damage, there was very little work left for me to do, but I decided to do a full diagnostic just in case. All in all, you saved his life."

Sunstreaker looks away from his brother and her eyes meet his optics. There is a strange vulnerability she's never seen in them before. Honestly, it's a tad unnerving. This is hotheaded Sunstreaker. He's strong. Confident. Always sure of himself.

Then again, she's never seen him almost lose everything he's ever cared about before.

Ratchet clears his throat uncomfortably. His holoform blinks out and he transforms into his bipedal mode near the door. "I'll just leave you three alone. Call me if there are any problems."

After Ratchet leaves Sunstreaker doesn't say anything. He just goes back to looking at Sideswipe. Ari isn't sure what to say so she decides to say nothing at all. When she stands up out of bed on wobbly legs she looks down at herself, grimacing at the hospital gown. Then she shrugs. New clothes can wait. She carefully shimmies down the human platform and makes her way over to Sideswipe's berth, expertly climbing up until she is lying on his chassis, the side of her face pressed to the area above his spark. She takes comfort in the heat and the slight thrum she hears and feels.

_He's alive, Ari. He's alive._

"Thank you, Ari," Sunstreaker finally says and her eyes snap to him in shock. This is the first time Sunny has ever called her by her first name. "Thank you for saving my brother."

She smiles softly. "You don't have to thank me for that, Sunstreaker. I wanted to save him just as badly as you did." She blushes, looks away. "You heard what I said before…didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did. You said you love him."

She brings her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She thinks about what the femme Prime said, how she should follow her heart. Her heart tells her she loves Sideswipe. It also tells her she's afraid. "Don't…Don't tell him I said that, okay?"

"Ari, I know how he feels. I'm his twin. I can sense it. He-"

"No." She looks at him, trying to convey with her eyes how serious she is. "It doesn't matter how I feel or how you _think_ he feels. The truth of the matter is, him and me? We just…can't. Cybertronians are supposed to be with other Cybertronians. It's hardwired into your processors and sparks. Your sparks are always searching for the other spark it's supposed to be with, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I don't have a spark, Sunny. And there is someone out there, a _Cybertronian_ , who does who's supposed to be with him." She shakes her head, looking away again. "Just drop it, okay? And don't you ever tell him what I said."

Sunstreaker sighs heavily. "You two are so stubborn. But alright. I won't tell him if you don't want me to. I owe you that much."

"Thank you," she whispers.

"Just get some sleep, Squishy," Sunstreaker says. She smirks slightly. "It'll be a while yet before Ratchet brings Sideswipe back online. You need to regain your strength."

* * *

Something nudges her shoulder, rousing Ari from her sleep, but she doesn't want to wake up. She's nice and comfy and warm.

"Come on, little one," Ratchet says, shaking her shoulder again.

"No," she groans. She still feels really drained. Sleep. She needs more sleep. Her mind drifts and she inches closer back to dreamland again.

"Just leave her," Sunstreaker says. "Sideswipe will wake her up once you bring him out of stasis. Just do it."

"Very well."

Something clicks. And then the surface she's on suddenly moves, tilting up quickly. Ari's eyes fly open as one of Sideswipe's arms presses her securely to his chassis, his other arm extending out with its blade protectively.

"Sideswipe," Ratchet says, palms held out placatingly. "No one here is going to hurt you."

Sideswipe doesn't seem to hear him, locked in some kind of fight-or-flight mode leaning very heavily towards fight. Sunstreaker stares at his brother intently, probably trying to reach him over their bond. Recognition starts to flicker in his optics.

"Sideswipe," she calls up to him softly, stroking a hand on his chassis. "Sideswipe, it's alright. I'm here. We're safe."

His optics move down to her and he blinks slowly. "Ari?"

She smiles. "Yeah, it's me. It's okay, Sideswipe. You can put the blade away."

He looks at his blade as if he hadn't realized it was out, then at Ratchet and Sunstreaker. The blade retracts and he lowers his arm. "Sorry."

"It's alright, youngling," Ratchet says. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I guess. What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"I remember…Ari getting taken." His grip tightens on her and she presses herself closer to him. "I remember going after her, finding the cave, the infiltration. Me, Sunny, and Bee found her. We were heading out when…." His brow furrows as he struggles to remember.

"You got hit, Sides," Sunstreaker says softly. "Bad. You were offlining."

Sideswipe's optics widen in shock. "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"And I'm alright now? Ratchet fixed me up?"

"Actually," Ratchet says, looking between her and Sideswipe, "Ari did."

Sideswipe's shock turns to her. "Seriously?" he repeats.

"You…You were dying, Sideswipe," she says, pressing her forehead to his chassis and closing her eyes. "So I begged Primus to give me the power to save you, like the Cube fixed you back in Mission City. And he gave it to me." An image of Sideswipe, gaping hole in his chest, optics fading, flickers in her mind, calling the tears back. "Don't you ever, _ever_ , do that to me again, you hear me? _Ever._ "

"Hey, hey." Sideswipe lifts her up so that their heads are level with each other. She looks at him with watery eyes as his thumb strokes her face, wiping the tears away. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you. I'm sorry the Decepticons got to you." He frowns, a rare sight for him. "I broke my promise to always be here and to always protect you. I almost left you, Ari."

"That wasn't your fault," she whispers.

"Yes, it was. I failed as your Guardian."

"No, you didn't, Sides." She lifts up a hand to stroke the side of his face. "I couldn't ask for a better Guardian. Just…How about from now on we protect each other. Deal?"

He half smiles. "Deal."

He brings her closer so she can wrap her arms around his neck and they cling to each other for a long time. Both thought they'd never see the other again. There are going to be many difficult obstacles coming their way. The Decepticons have an active shard which they plan on using to bring Megatron back online. Which she still needs to go tell Optimus about. The Fallen is planning something, something big, and they have no idea what it is.

But they're together again, and so long as they're together Ari can face anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...more to love or more to hate? Yeah, I know, I'm evil.
> 
> Next chapter, Ari will be heading on to college! And you'll get to see what I did with the Leo situation.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	30. A State of Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post last week. I got really sick but I'm back now!
> 
> ROTF is kicking into high gear! I also introduce a new OC this chapter who is my replacement of Leo. I know some of you guys liked Leo and wanted him to stay, but even though this is a co-ed dorm, a guy still couldn't be Ari's roommate. The way she's panning out in my mind...I like her. Hopefully you guys will, too. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Things have gotten very crazy. More so than usual even, and that's saying something. Ari has almost been dissected, multiple times, while awake. She's been attacked, chased, kidnapped, and put through an emotional whirlwind that could compete with her time with Ron.

She got a new AllSpark mark that allowed her to save Sideswipe's life. In front of all of the soldiers of N.E.S.T. That had been interesting to talk about. In the end, she ended up leveling with them, telling them she's the AllSpark. They deserved the truth anyway, especially after risking their lives to save her.

Reactions varied. Mostly shock, a little unease. But they mostly still see her as the same girl hanging out on the Autobots' shoulders who helped them when they first arrived at N.E.S.T. She's just glad none of them fear her. That had been a relief. She has enough worries right now.

Like her future. Chances are, the Decepticons aren't done with her yet. Chances are, they will come for her again. In a few days, she leaves for college. Now, she needs to decide if she's still going.

"Optimus?" Ari calls through the Prime's dorm room door, fidgeting back and forth on her feet. Optimus has led mechs and femmes through many battles, he's made calls that have saved many lives and the calls that are the toughest to make. He is a great leader, but he's also a great friend. Over the years, he's been like another father to her, besides Will. If anyone can help her, it's him.

When the door remains closed she debates calling again when suddenly it cracks open, Optimus's faceplates peeking out.

"Ari," he says in slight surprise. "Is everything alright?"

She bites her lip nervously and says, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course." He steps aside so she can enter his room and closes the door behind her. As Prime and leader of the Autobots, Optimus was granted his own room with no need to share with anyone else. It's the same size as the other rooms but instead of having two berths there is one berth and a large metal desk and chair for Optimus to work on reports and other duties he has for N.E.S.T. and the World Security Council. Optimus sits down at his desk, helping Ari up so that she can sit on top of the desk in front of him. "What is it you wished to speak with me about?"

She rests her elbows on her crossed legs, twisting and untwisting her fingers together. "I…I don't know what I should do."

His optic ridges furrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know what I should do about my future. The Decepticons know I'm the AllSpark. They probably aren't done with me. The safest thing would be to stay on base but…I don't want to halt my life because of this either. I _want_ to go to college."

Optimus leans back in his chair, optics sympathetic. "Even at the risk of your own life?"

"I know it's a risk, but I can't just sit here waiting for them to get me. What good will it do? They'll just come after me here again."

"They do know where the base is and I cannot guarantee we will all be here to protect you if and when they decide to attack again. Moving you somewhere secure where the Decepticons cannot find you would be the safest option."

Ari shakes her head. "It won't matter. The Fallen is coming."

Optimus's optics widen in shock. "How do you know this?"

"I had a vision while you all were in Shanghai. 'The Fallen shall rise again.' The AllSpark showed it to me as a warning. He _is_ coming back. Soon. And there won't be any hiding from him."

"You are probably right," Optimus sighs. "The Fallen is one of the original Primes. He will be stronger than any of us."

Ari wants to ask if the Fallen is even stronger than him but is too scared to. That is one question she doesn't really want to know the answer to. But that still leaves one question. "So what about college? Should I go or not?"

"Your college is close enough to where if you need assistance from the rest of us we will be able to provide it. The real question is, how badly do you want it?"

"I want it," Ari answers immediately. "I really want it. Galloway is really angry after all of the destruction in Shanghai. Will told me he threatened to kick you all off planet. I don't want that to happen. The sooner I can become Ambassador, the better, but no one will take me seriously without at least a college degree." She grimaces. "Although they probably still won't take me seriously because I'll still be a lot younger than them."

Optimus smiles. "You are one of the most selfless humans I know, Ari. So willing to help others above yourself."

Ari blushes softly. She doesn't really think about it like that. There is a difference between doing the easy thing and the right thing. Rarely are the two the same and right now, Ari knows they aren't. To her, doing the easy thing would be to run away and hide and hope, pray, the Decepticons and the Fallen never find her. That's a false hope though. Doing what's _right_ , in this moment, would be to face all of this head on. To not run away.

Optimus sees the resolve in her eyes and his smile widens. "If this is your wish, then go."

"Even if I'm risking my life?" she asks, worry coloring her voice. "I mean, I'm your AllSpark. Are _you_ really willing to risk it?"

"Even though you are the AllSpark, you are first and foremost your own person. We will not control you." He leans down so that his face is level with hers. "Just follow your heart, Ari. Wherever it leads you, we will stand with you."

She knows where her heart is leading her. It's leading her to the Autobots. Always has, always will. And right now, the Autobots need her to be strong. Sure, she'll be in constant danger. She may be taken again, maybe not, but the Autobots will be there for her. And she needs to go to college so she can be there for them as well. So, Ari stands and wraps her arms around his faceplates, hugging him. Optimus seems thrown for a minute but then he presses a hand into her back to hold her in return.

"Thank you, Optimus," she whispers.

"You are very welcome."

She pulls back so she can look at him. "You'll come help me move, right?"

Optimus chuckles. "Of course."

"Do you think any of the others will want to come too?"

"Not all of us can go since the base will still need protecting, but yes, I'm sure some of the others will want to accompany you as well."

Ari smiles as her mind races ahead to the day she goes to college. She'll have her family to see her off, the Lennoxes and the Autobots. They're all her family. It'll be sad to say goodbye to them, but it certainly won't be forever. She'll always find her way back to them.

But there's one thing she needs to do first.

After leaving Optimus she rides her bike over to her dorm room, locking the door behind her. She's still sleeping in Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's room since no one, including herself, wants her to be vulnerably alone, but right now what she needs is privacy. She's thought a lot about what she is fixing to try, ever since she came back from the Decepticon base. Sitting cross-legged on her bed she looks down at her left arm, at the mark of healing. She was able to heal Sideswipe with this mark. She can heal any Cybertronian with this mark.

Will she be able to use it to heal herself?

_It's worth a try_.

Pushing her pant leg up she reveals one of the worst scars she has on her body. That had been a bad night. Ron was really mad because he had gotten kicked out of the bar after only a couple of drinks. He took it out on her, his hits were brutal, so she tried to run to her room. Ron threw a beer bottle at her, the glass exploding right next to her feet, and a shard embedded itself into the back of her calf. The wound needed ten stitches and it healed into a jagged, puffy pink line.

She hovers her left hand over the scar and reaches into herself for the AllSpark. It comes alive at her call, the healing mark glowing blue, but refuses to come all the way to the surface. There's no damaged Cybertronian for it to heal so it is unsure what it is it needs to be fixing. With gritted teeth she shoves the power through her body, into her hand, and down to the scar on her leg, streams of blue electricity arching out to lick at the scar tissue. But still the power resists her, uncomprehending what it is supposed to do. It tries to retreat but she forces it to stay, trying to make it heal the scar through sheer force of will.

But the scar will not heal.

With a huff of annoyance she lets the power go, feeling it snap back into her body to lie dormant once more. It also leaves her feeling extremely fatigued, like she's gone several nights with nightmares keeping her from sleeping. With a low growl she flops back on her bed to stare up at the ceiling, blinking angry tears away. She's the AllSpark. Practically all knowledge throughout time is at her fingertips, at least the parts that she's allowed to see, she is immune to every disease known to man, including the common cold, she can fix mortally wounded Cybertronians with a wave of her hand, but she can't make one little scar go away. The AllSpark, a _Cybertronian_ , relic, seems to be incapable of healing humans. Figures.

After a few minutes of silent fuming her new pendant, an exact replica of the one Starscream destroyed, chirps twice. A deep sigh escapes her lips and she presses the black button for the comm. "Go for Ari."

"Hello, little one," Ratchet's voice says through the small speaker. "I've finished my diagnostics and have identified the most heavily damaged areas of Bumblebee's vocal processor. We are ready when you are."

Ari curses under her breath. She forgot they were going to do this today. And now she feels like slag. Still, she doesn't want to go back on her promise to Bumblebee, even though she knows he wouldn't mind just waiting one more day, so she tells Ratchet she's on her way and sluggishly pedals her bike over to the Med Bay.

Ratchet gives her a once over when she walks in, his faceplates etched with a deep frown. "Why do you appear to be running at a diminished capacity?"

She chuckles softly. Ever the Chief Medical Officer, as she figured he would be, so the slanted lie falls easily off her tongue. "I haven't been sleeping well at night. Just nervous about going to college is all."

"Perhaps it would be best for you to get some recharge before repairing Bumblebee then."

"No, it's okay. I can still heal just fine even with a little lack of sleep."

If it was just a lack of sleep she knows she really would be fine, but it isn't a lack of sleep. She doesn't have much energy left in herself to draw on the AllSpark power but slaggit if she isn't going to still do this. Bumblebee has been without his voice long enough.

Without waiting for Ratchet's stamp of approval Ari climbs up on the berth were Bumblebee sits, his legs hanging off the side swinging back and forth excitedly. His optics are so bright and happy with his anticipation and he looks so much like a little boy about to open his birthday present, already knowing inside lies the gift he's wanted for the longest time.

"Ready to get your voice back, Bee?" she asks.

Bumblebee's radio comes to life with "I'm so excited! I just can't hide it!" and he bobs up and down in a little dance in his seat.

Ratchet shakes his head in amusement and then instructs Bee to lie down. He's unable to keep this from Bee either, deciding to take her word that she's fine.

And she will be. She can do this.

Ari stands next to Bee's head, hands outstretched towards his neck, and concentrates. The power feels heavy inside her, not wanting to do any more work than she's already pushed it to do. She's exhausted her supplies for today because she was so stubborn earlier and she puts her stubbornness to the test again, taking a firm hold of the power and yanking it out of her. It complies, the blue sparks flowing down her arms and towards Bumblebee's neck, her own instinct and Ratchet's medical knowledge guiding her as he instructs her on what needs fixing. Sweat appears on her forehead and back, making her shirt cling to her skin, but she keeps going, not wanting to stop until she knows Bumblebee will be able to sing with his own voice, to express his thoughts with his own words. When the final piece of metal clicks back into place where it should be her arms fall to her side, all of her limbs feeling like lead. She decides to sit down before she falls down, her breaths coming out short and labored.

Bumblebee sits up, coughing. Ari may feel like an even bigger pile of slag than she did earlier but she looks at Bumblebee intently, hope fluttering in her chest, as she waits for him to say something, anything.

"Well?" Ratchet prompts.

"I…," Bumblebee coughs again, trying to clear the gravel out of his voice. "I can talk." Bumblebee's optics light up even brighter and Ari smiles broadly. "I can talk! I have my voice back! Thank you, Ari!"

Bumblebee lifts Ari into a hug, jumping up from the table and twirling her around in circles. She grins, but before the bubble of happiness can rise up in her throat in a laugh and before she can even say "You're welcome" the darkness drags her down.

* * *

When Ari's eyes crack open her head is pounding and the rest of her body aches. She can't help but wonder if this is what it feels like to be hungover. Although she'll probably never find out. Her past experiences with alcohol, though not direct, were extremely…unpleasant. And if this really is anything like being hungover she wants no part of it.

"Ari?" a worried voice asks. She blinks a few times until Ratchet's form comes into focus, Bumblebee standing next to him. "Are you alright, little one?"

"Yeah, I think so," she says, struggling to sit up in bed. She's in one of the hospital beds in the Med Bay. Again. At least she's still in her own clothes and not one of those paper gowns though.

"Humans don't faint for no reason," Bumblebee says, his newly-healed voice sounding older than she imagined it would and so, so much better than anything he could find on the radio. "It's not…You didn't hurt yourself trying to help me, did you?"

"No," Ari says quickly. "No, Bee this wasn't your fault. I'm really fine. Promise."

"I'm not sure we should believe you." Ratchet narrows his optics at her. "You weren't very truthful with us last time, were you?"

She ducks her head sheepishly but doesn't outright answer. Not like she needs to.

Ratchet sighs deeply, shuttering his optics and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Mind telling me why?"

All she does is stare at her feet. Telling Ratchet and Bee what she was doing, it's kind of embarrassing in a way. Though she's not sure why. She's sure they'd understand. Still, the words are stuck in her throat and refuse to budge.

Ratchet's optics dim as he talks on the comm and when he focuses on her again he says, "Well, if you won't talk to me maybe you'll talk to Sideswipe. He just got back from patrol." He and Bee start for the door but Ratchet pauses before going out, looking back at her a little sadly. "We're all here for you, little one."

Now she feels even worse as she watches them leave, drawing her legs to her chest and resting her forehead on her knees. She feels like she's let him down or something by not telling him what's wrong. But this is just…really personal. Her scars have always been a topic she likes to avoid. They don't know that's what this is all about, but that doesn't make it any easier to talk about.

When Sideswipe enters her stomach drops just a little bit more. His faceplates are filled with worry, just like Ratchet's. She hates worrying him, any of them really. But just like her nightmares, this isn't something she'll be able to hide from them, especially Sideswipe. If something's wrong, he always seems to find out what it is no matter how much she wishes to keep it from him.

Sideswipe pulls up a chair and sits down in front of the human platform. "So, Ratchet just told me you passed out after healing Bumblebee and that healing him shouldn't have taken that much energy." He pauses, waiting for her to say something but she doesn't. Just presses her face into her knees. Something touches the top of her head. Right away she recognizes his warmth, his fingers stroking through her hair. "Ari," he says softly, "talk to me."

She groans internally, wishing to avoid this conversation, but she knows he won't leave her alone about it. So she uncurls herself and scoots down to sit at the end of the bed, Sideswipe's hand following her so that it stays curled around her, a comforting presence. She still doesn't look up at him though, keeping her eyes focused on her hands in her lap, palms up.

"I have this power. It can do _so much_. It saved Jazz, it saved you twice, it gave Bee his voice back, but it won't…help…me." Her left hand skims up along her right arm, fingertips ghosting the length of a scar on the inside of her wrist. Ron accidentally nicked an artery when using a knife on her that night. If Ron hadn't sobered up at the sight of all that blood and gotten her to a hospital she could have died. He played it off as a suicide attempt. Sideswipe places his hand over hers, halting her movements. It's so much bigger than hers, completely engulfing her hand. The size difference enraptures her for a minute. They're so completely different from each other. But as she looks up into his optics, so full of sympathy and kindness and other things she can't even name but make her chest feel full of warmth, she knows it's okay to say it. He'll understand. "The reason I was so tired after healing Bumblebee is because I had already used my powers earlier."

That surprises him. "Who did you heal?"

"I tried to heal myself." She looks back down at her arms. "I tried to heal my scars."

"Oh, Ari," Sideswipe places a finger under her chin and tilts her head up to look at him. "Why would you do that? I thought we got you past this?"

"I-I know but I…I still hate them, Sides. I wish I didn't have them, I wish they'd go away. So I tried to make them disappear, heal them just like I healed you, but I couldn't. I kept directing the power to one of my scars and I could feel it rejecting it. It couldn't comprehend what I wanted it to do, not to something that isn't Cybertronian."

Sideswipe's thumb strokes the side of her face, catching a tear she hadn't even realized had fallen. "You don't have to hate them. They're a part of you, just like mine are a part of me."

"No." Ari gets up, pacing away from Sideswipe with her arms wrapped around herself. "They're not like yours or any of the other Autobots' or the soldiers'. I didn't get these protecting others or even myself. I got these because I couldn't. They're a reminder of a part of my life I wish I could just forget. I'm finally with people and in a place, in a _home_ , that I love and I don't want the constant reminder of the hell I had to live through."

Sideswipe places a hand on her shoulder, halting her pacing, and she looks up with watery eyes to see kindness and understanding in his optics. "There are days that I wish I could forget too. I've lost a lot of good friends to this war and seen others come really close to being on that list as well. Even if I had scars for each of them, getting rid of them wouldn't make the memories go away. And I wouldn't want to get rid of them either."

She wipes at her eyes, sniffing loudly so that when she speaks it isn't so choked. "Why?"

"Because all of those horrible things are a part of me. They helped me become who I am today. They've helped me become stronger, smarter, better able to protect the people in my life now."

He doesn't say "including you" but he doesn't need to. She can hear it in his voice and it makes her chest clench a little bit more in a different kind of pain.

"I know what happened to you was horrible, just as horrible as our war. I know you still have nightmares." She turns her head away, not wanting to think about the memories that claw at her brain, but he stops her, hand cupping the side of her face, keeping her looking at him. "But what's happened has made you stronger. Strong enough to get tangled up in this alien war and survive, even though you had no obligation to get involved in it in the first place. Strong enough for Primus to see fit to give you the power of the AllSpark. But it's also more than that. It's given you a kindness and compassion for others that you use wholeheartedly because you were shown so little of it yourself."

"You show it to me," she says in a small voice. "You and the others. But you're the only ones. And I'm about go live in a place where I don't know anybody, with a roommate who is going to look at these scars and think I'm a freak, not that I'm strong. And that's going to lead to questions, questions I'm not going to want to answer, and then things will get awkward and-"

"Ari," Sideswipe presses a finger to her lips, effectively shutting her up. "I think you've picked up on Sarah's blabbing tendencies."

She moves his finger away. "Sorry. I guess I'm just…really stressing." And not handling the whole moving off to college thing as well as she originally thought she was. She hates this state of unknowing she's in right now and wishes her scars weren't added on top of it. She told Optimus she doesn't want to halt her life because of everything, but that doesn't mean she isn't scared.

"It'll be okay, Ari." He gives her a half-smile. "And I'll be with you every step of the way. Me and Sunny."

She smiles back. "Promise?"

"Promise. With all my spark."

* * *

A few days and a two hour drive later Ari is stepping out of Sideswipe's alt mode to stare at the place she's going to be living for the next two years. The college campus is even more beautiful than she remembers from her visit several months prior when she got to tour the place with other interested applicants. It's modeled after a classical Gothic architecture remnant of East coast ivy schools with beautiful moldings and steepled towers. It looks more like a place she would imagine seeing in Europe, a building as old as the first American settlers, and hardly seems like the place for learning that it is. But all around her in the parking lot, milling about the grassy courtyard dotted with large oaks, are students just like her moving into the dorms.

Sideswipe's holoform walks up beside her, holding one of her boxes in his hands. "You ready for this?" he asks.

"Not really," she says with a shaky breath, "but I'm going anyway."

"You'll be fine, kid," Will says from where he stands at Ironhide's trunk taking out another box. Ironhide, Optimus, Jazz, and Ratchet made the trip with her, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, along with Will, Sarah, and Annabelle of course. She wishes the others could have come too instead of having to stay behind to protect the base but in a way this is fitting. It's all of the original Autobots, the ones she first met. They brought her into a new life and now they're seeing her off into another. "You and Sides go ahead and find out where your dorm is. We'll start unloading your stuff."

With a firm grasp on her messenger bag and Sideswipe close to her side she makes her way towards the school, quickly finding the table of RAs in the courtyard handing out dorm room keys and one of them points out which building is where her dorm is. The dorms are co-ed so there are boys and girls crowding the hallways. The close contact instantly makes her twitchy but then without a word Sideswipe takes the lead, shouldering his way through the other freshman and their families. Ari sticks close behind him, grabbing a fistful of the back of his shirt so as not to lose him. When they find room 213 on the second floor Ari pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath, before opening the door to her dorm.

Her roommate is obviously already moved in considering half of the room is already decorated with band posters taking up most of the wall space, a flat screen T.V., and a really nice computer sitting on one of the desks. The other half is bare, with her bed shoved in one corner underneath the only windows in the room. Altogether, the room is about the size of her room at the farmhouse except with twice as many beds, dressers, and desks. Still, its nicer and bigger accommodations than the soldiers get at the N.E.S.T. base and they still have to share.

"Hey," a voice says behind them and they turn to see a tall girl dressed in tattered jeans, an oversized T-shirt, and biker boots. She has possible Spanish roots somewhere in the mix giving her wavy, dark brown hair that looks almost black and falls to the middle of her back. Her brown, almond-shaped eyes roam over Ari with a critical eye. "You must be Ari, right? I'm Lina."

Ari offers a hand and Lina takes it, shakes. "Nice to meet you."

They just kind of stare at each other for a moment. Ari has no idea what to say or do so she just stays quiet, eyes darting from Lina to looking around the room.

"You know what this is?" Lina asks. "This is the awkward moment."

One of Ari's eyebrows raises in question.

"Yeah, you're trying to see if I'm normal. I'm trying to see if you're normal. Balanced, unmedicated, nothing under the crawl space."

Ari half-smiles, catching on. "Good personal hygiene, won't stab me in my sleep."

Because she has actual problems with that.

"No criminal record," Lina continues, "won't steal anything, including boyfriends."

"You have a boyfriend?"

Lina deflates a little. "Unfortunately, no." But then she perks right back up with a feral grin. "Not yet anyway. Speaking of which, who might you be?"

She's looking over Ari's shoulder right at Sideswipe and that makes Ari automatically tense up. Sideswipe puts down the box he'd been carrying on the floor and shakes hands with Lina as well.

"Hi," he says with a chipper smile. Too chipper. "The name's Sideswipe."

"Sideswipe?" Lina chuckles. "What kind of name is Sideswipe? A nickname or something?"

"Uh," he glances at Ari nervously, unsure what to say. "Something like that."

Lina takes a few steps closer to him. "That's hot. I can only imagine how you got a nickname like that."

A fire burns in the pit of Ari's stomach setting her gut to boiling. She doesn't like how close Lina is standing to Sideswipe or how she's looking at him.

Huh. So this is what jealousy feels like. If only she could tell Lina that Sideswipe isn't human. The look that's sure to be on her face would be priceless.

Lina looks at Ari's face and gives an amused laugh. "Oh, crap, looks like I'm messing up already. Chill out, Ari, I won't steal. Why didn't you just say he was taken in the first place?"

Ice cold panic snuffs out the fire in her stomach and instead her cheeks begin to burn. "I…uh…no…he's not…we're not…."

"It's okay, I understand," Lina says with a happy glint in her eye. "No prob, I still won't stand in your way."

Ari looks at a very confused Sideswipe and sighs warily. Sometimes she's glad that he still gets confused about some human things.

A knock on the door jamb draws everyone's attention to the doorway. Sunstreaker stands there, box in hand, with the others standing behind him. His eyes shift between the three of them curiously. "Everything alright in here?"

Lina's face brightens. "Oh, so there's two of you, huh? Fantastic."

* * *

It doesn't take long to get all of the boxes up to her dorm. Not like she had a lot of stuff though. Everyone hangs around for her to unpack, all of them seeming to be hesitant to leave. All of them dragging their feet. Ari knows how they feel. She doesn't want them to leave either. But it has to come eventually. She starts with the Autobots, giving each of them a big hug, happy she actually _can_ hug them now that she won't be seeing them for a while. It would have hurt a lot if she couldn't, if she hadn't gotten better with Sideswipe's help.

"I promise I'll visit as often as I can," Ari says as she pulls away from Optimus.

"You better," Jazz says, glaring at her playfully. "If not, then we'll use force if we have tah."

Ari laughs. "Won't be necessary, Jazz." She sighs sadly. "I'm going to miss you guys."

"And we will miss you as well, Ari," Optimus says. "Don't think of it as goodbye. Just…see you soon."

See you soon. Not goodbye. "Yeah, I like the sound of that. See you all soon."

The Autobots give her final smiles and parting waves and then it is just her and her foster family. No. Her and her parents and her little sister.

Will steps forward first, pulling Ari into a group hug with Sarah and even little Annabelle wrapping their arms around her, though Annabelle has to make due with the side of Ari's head. She laughs, planting a big kiss on the little girl's forehead.

"I'll miss you, Ri-Ri," Annabelle says in her high soprano voice. She's gotten really far in talking for someone so young but she still can't quite get the hang of Ari's name.

"I'll miss you, too, sweet little Annie. But I'll be back. Promise."

"You better," she says, trying to impersonate Jazz's glare but it ends up just looking cute on her. Ari laughs, kissing her little sister one more time, and pulls away from the hug.

Sarah looks at her like she's overjoyed, proud, and sad all at the same time. She cups Ari's cheek. "You'll do great, honey. I know you will."

Ari smiles, her chest aching a little with the feeling of wanting to cry but she ignores it. She's both happy and sad that she's doing this, really going to college. She always thought college would be her final escape from Ron, but now it's taking her away from people whom she loves and never wants to leave. But she needs to do this. She _will_ do great so that she can get back to them as fast as possible. And since she doesn't know when she'll see them next she says, "Thanks, Mom. Dad. I love you."

Will and Sarah look at her in shock for the briefest moment before they're pulling her into another hug again, this one full of tears and happy laughter. Seeing Will with watery eyes is the strangest sight when she pulls away again but he has a big smile on his face.

"Love you, too, kiddo. Now go get 'em."

Ari nods and steps away to stand between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as she watches her family pile into Ironhide's cab. When Optimus takes the lead driving out of the parking lot she can't help but reach over and take Sideswipe's hand. He curls his fingers around her tightly, a reassuring tether as she watches all of the Autobots leave one by one just as they had come one by one into that alley when they first met.

"You ready to head back in there, Squishy?" Sunstreaker asks after a few minutes.

"Yeah," she says a little sadly.

Sideswipe squeezes her hand. "Want us to go with you?"

"No, I think I should do this on my own. Get to know my roommate and stuff."

"Alright." He squeezes her hand one more time and then lets go. "We're here if you need us."

She smiles. "I know." She may not know what's about to happen. She doesn't know about the Decepticons or Lina. But she does know she'll have Sideswipe. For now, that's just going to have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we're diving head first into ROTF! How did you guys like my OC, Lina? I hope you come to like her as much as I'm starting to. Especially since I'm probably going to keep her around past the first movie, unlike Leo.
> 
> Next chapter will be more getting to know Lina and some movie stuff. Hopefully I can get it up next Friday.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	31. The War Has Begun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. Life has been busy lately so, for the foreseeable future until things calm down for me, updates will have to be every other Friday. Sorry, but I just don't have as much time to write as I like. Hopefully things return to normalcy soon.
> 
> Anyway, things are starting to get exciting as we get further into TF2. There are a couple of movie bits, but remember, I'm going to be making a couple of differences to the movie, as I'm sure you will notice in this chapter. And I'm not just talking about Lina.
> 
> So, go onward and enjoy!

When Ari walks back into her dorm room Lina is sitting at her desk doing something on the computer. She looks up when Ari enters, "So, you a techie or what?"

"A techie?" Ari says. "No, I'm a political science major."

Lina's face scrunches up like she just tasted something disgusting. "Ugh, of course, out of everyone, I get paired with my mortal enemy."

"Excuse me?" Ari asks, taken aback. What did she do to get tagged as a mortal enemy already?

"Come on, follow me." Lina stands, walking to the open door connecting their room to the one next door. "Sharsky, Fassbinder, where are we at?"

This room is occupied by two boys and there room is not so much of a dorm room as an office. There are more desks with several more computers that take up a majority of the space, the two beds shoved against one wall, and a soda machine in one corner. There is also a sickening amount of photos of different girls, mostly magazine photos, all in different levels of undress. Definitely the sort of boys without girlfriends but desperately seeking.

She makes a mental note not to spend too much time with them.

One of the guys look up when they enter, a boy with dark skin wearing a polo shirt. "Server's almost online, Lina," he says.

The other one, wearing a baseball cap and glasses, doesn't even take his eyes off of his screen when he says, "Network's up and running."

"Beautiful, that's what I like to hear," Lina claps her hands together, leaning against one of the desks. "That's Sharsky," she says, pointing to the first guy, then points at the second, "that's Fassbinder, my I.T. gurus and basically my slaves since sophomore year of high school. Welcome to my empire, TheRealEfingDeal. I'm sure you've heard of it."

Ari presses her lips together, trying very hard not to laugh. "No, I haven't."

The three techies deflate a little. "Well, that sucks," Fassbinder says.

Lina sighs. "Look, we may not be big yet, but we will be. You know where I started, Ari? Kitten calendars. And look at me now? This is a lot freaking more than what I started with. Billionaires started small, too, before they ever got big."

"Lina!" Fassbinder calls out. "We got some brand-new Shanghai vid!"

Lina hops up excitedly. "Post it, post it! Go, go, go!" She leans down to type at the computer on the desk she had been sitting on, bringing up the video Fassbinder found.

Ari approaches to look at the screen over Lina's shoulder, a sinking feeling in her gut. It plummets when she sees the video.

It's a video of Shanghai, all right. More specifically, it's the Autobots fighting the Decepticons in Shanghai. It's a fuzzy, shaky, civilian video, probably recorded on a phone, but those are definitely Cybertronians she can see.

"Look at this," Lina says in disbelief. "Half of Shanghai gets wrecked and China says gas leak. Their government lies just as much as ours."

Ari backs up slowly, eyes shifting between the three of them as they speculate. Lina was right, they are mortal enemies. She's friends with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who probably made up the gas leak story and when she becomes Autobot Ambassador she's probably going to be making up a few of them herself.

She clamps down on her lips even harder, biting them between her teeth. If only Lina knew she just met the ones in the video a few hours ago.

How is she supposed to live with these people who would love to know the secret she's hiding?

"Uh-oh," Sharksky says.

"Lina," Fassbinder yells, "bad news! We just got scooped. The video's already on GFR."

Lina kicks at the desk with a hard thump, letting out a long and colorful stream of curses, and then drops heavily into the desk chair with a deep, annoyed sigh. "Freaking Robo-Warrior. The guy's our main competition on conspiracy stuff. Effing was _my_ effing idea and he stole it! He's been linking my site and thieving hits forever." She spins a few times in her chair and then abruptly stands. "Come on, Ari, let's see what food we can scrounge up in this joint. I'm in a desperate need of chocolate." She heads for the door, not even bothering to wait for Ari, and calls over her shoulder, "Later, dorks."

Ari quickly follows after her. This is certainly going to be an interesting couple of years.

The two of them head towards the stairwell, Lina talking about a vending machine near the cafeteria with Oreo cookies that she spotted earlier, when suddenly she pulls Ari off to the side of the hallway. Ari instantly takes a step back out of her grasp, still not liking when people suddenly grab her like that.

"What's going on?" Ari asks, one part annoyed at being touched and one part curious at Lina's odd behavior. Lina is looking nervously down the hallway. She's staring at a boy. Beach blond hair, messy, but it's the kind of messy that looks purposefully done. Board shorts and a dark blue tank top leave little to the imagination. He's all muscle, the kind of muscle that girls drool over, including Lina at the moment. There is something about his eyes, though. They practically glow blue, but blue doesn't really seem…right on him.

"That's Allan," Lina whispers conspiratorially. "He's one of the hottest freshman here and trust me, I know. I had Sharksky hack Campus Housing. He is tied for number one on my to-do list along with that twin of yours, Sunny."

Ari barks out a laugh. "Seriously? You want to get together with Sunny?"

"Hell, yeah. He's hot." Allan's blue eyes land on them and Lina jerks back, cheeks slightly blushing, and leans against the wall, attempting cool. "Just act naturally, everybody act naturally."

The entire situation feels anything _but_ natural. Allan is staring right at them, eyes never shifting, but what he's thinking Ari can't even begin to guess. His stone cold face is even better than Coulson's and Fury's. There is something in those odd eyes of his, though. Something almost…hungry. Predatory. It almost reminds her of the look Starscream gave her when he found out she's the AllSpark and it sends a shiver down her spine.

And then he's moving on. Lina breathes a sigh that's half disappointed, half relieved, and then the two of them are headed off in search of Oreos again. Lina talks incessantly and Ari lets her, content to just let Lina's words wash over her as she's lost in thought.

She's getting that feeling again. That something's about to happen. Something bad, like what she felt before the Decepticons attacked the base. And it's because of Allan. She vows never to spend any time at all with him. Something's just not right with that guy. She can't get the feeling of his stare to go away, feeling like it's still on her and she rubs at her arms as if she could just rub the feeling away. Once they're outside, walking across the courtyard, and she can see Sideswipe sitting in the parking lot still she feels a little better. Sideswipe is still here, keeping an eye on her. Sunstreaker is out patrolling the city and later that night when it's time for him to get some recharge he'll park himself in a parking garage only a few blocks away, N.E.S.T. having provided him with a pass to gain him entry without having to pay every time.

Sides and Sunny will watch over her.

When Lina asks Ari if she wants to go to some party one of the fraternities is throwing Ari tunes back into the conversation so she can decline the invitation. A frat party is the last thing she wants to do tonight. A house packed full of people, loud music, and booze is not her idea of a fun time. Sure, she wants to make new friends, but she wants to do it when everyone is sober and she's not climbing the walls because she feels so confined by the crowd of people. Lina tries to push it until Ari feigns tiredness from the long drive and Lina drops it after that. When they make it back to the dorm Lina changes into a fresh outfit and she and the boys next door head on out, leaving Ari in blissful quiet. Lina sure is a talker, but it's kind of a nice contrast to Ari's natural quietness.

With the dorm all to herself, Ari decides to get some "reading" done. One by one she goes through her textbooks for the semester, allowing the information to flow into her and settle in her brain among all the rest. They arrived in the mail only a few days before she left for college and she hadn't had the chance to do this yet. Now she won't have to worry about freaking out in the middle of class. One less thing to worry about, anyway. When she's done night has long since fallen and the events from the day start to weigh down on her. So, she changes into some pajamas and crawls into bed, using her pendant to say a quick goodnight to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. All of the Autobots end up answering, putting a smile on her face as she drifts off into sleep.

* * *

Bright sunlight pierces Ari's eyelids, forcing her into consciousness. She groans, not wanting to get up, but then sudden panic jerks her into focus. If the sun is so bright already, then she's probably late for school. Her eyes fly open and she hastily sits up in bed. Only, she's not lying in bed. She's lying on sand.

"What the frag?" she says, slightly disoriented. This is the same desert where she meets with the Primes. What is she doing here? Only one way to find out so she stands, brushing the sand off of her pajamas, and heads for the craggy mountains. Sure enough, there are the Primes waiting for her. "Why am I here?" she asks. "I highly doubt falling asleep has earned me another mark."

"No," the first Prime says, kneeling down on one knee to be more on her level. "That is not why we have called you here." His faceplates look worried, something she's never seen on him. They all look worried. And for the Primes to be worried…It can only be one thing.

"It's the Fallen, isn't it?" Ari asks quietly. "He's coming."

"Not yet, but soon."

"Then why am I here?"

"Because everything is starting," the largest Prime says, his voice deep and echoing with anticipation. "A war is coming, human, and you are the key to its ending. You are the one who will determine the victor."

Ari runs a hand over her face, chest constricting with dread. They're giving her the fate of the world again. She wonders why it keeps getting placed on her shoulders. Is it because of convenience? She was the only one who could run away from the Decepticons with the AllSpark in Mission City. Is it because she is the AllSpark now? Is saving the world part of the responsibility that comes with it? How can Primus expect her to do this? She's only almost nineteen, mostly still just a kid in the eyes of humans. In the eyes of the rest of the universe, Cybertronians, probably Primus himself, she's…minuscule. How can her decisions keep everything from blowing up?

"Ari," the first Prime says, entreating her to look at him. "Do not doubt yourself."

She lets out a self-deprecating laugh. "You a mind reader now?"

"I do not need to be. It is written clearly on your face."

She looks away for a moment and then up at the Prime. "How do you know I can do this? I'm just one person."

"Because Primus says you can."

"And how does _he_ know?"

The Prime shakes his head. "I do not know. But I believe in him and I believe in you. You have accomplished so much for someone so small and so young. All you have to do is be yourself. Follow your heart. And you will be able to accomplish the task Primus has set for you now."

Her fists clench at her sides in frustration and then go slack. There's no point in fighting this. And, if she's honest with herself, she doesn't want to. If her doing something will help she will do whatever it takes. "What does Primus want me to do?"

The first Prime smiles. "Two years ago was not the first time Cybertronians have been to Earth. There have been others who traveled to Earth on a mission different than the one to find the AllSpark, guided only by a single clue."

"What were they searching for?"

"I am sorry, Ari, but Primus wishes to keep that from you as a test."

A little annoyance fizzles over her nerves. Why would Primus keep something like this from her if it will determine who will win? Lives could be lost because of it. Just to test her. But then she realizes. "He's testing me for the next mark."

"Yes. We will give you the same clue the other Cybertronians were given before. Depending on the outcome, you will be given the next AllSpark mark."

"Well, either I'll get the mark or I'll be dead."

The biggest Prime snorts. "That is the way of war."

Doesn't make her feel any better. But she doesn't really have a choice in the matter. "What's the clue?"

The first Prime stands. "We will show you." He waves a hand and a series of Cybertronian symbols float through the air like a mirage. Her head spikes in pain for an instant, causing her to wince, and the same symbols rush through her head. "Figure out the riddle, Ari. Before it is too late. Keep the Fallen from getting what he wants."

* * *

Ari wakes up with a gasp, her alarm clock beeping shrilly from where it sits on her desk. She blinks her eyes rapidly, trying to will the grogginess of sleep to leave her. Though it doesn't feel like she got a whole lot of it. Then again, that could just be the new gravity of the situation making her tired already. She'll have to find time in her day when she's alone to tell the Autobots what she saw.

Lina's alarm goes off on the other side of the room and Lina groans. Ari looks over to see her fully clothed in the same clothes she wore when she left for the party, face-planted on her bed. Ari chuckles to herself. _That's_ why she didn't want to go to a party the night before classes start.

With a great deal of effort Ari levers herself up, turns off her alarm, and starts to gather what she needs so she can get ready for the day in the communal bathroom down the hall. She leaves Lina's alarm alone so that, hopefully, Lina will get up to turn it off herself eventually. Lina definitely doesn't appear to be a morning person. Finally, something they have in common.

Ari is nervous for the first day of school, but college isn't like Tranquility High School. Here, no one knows who she is and the classes are large unlike the small student body in Tranquility that allowed everyone to get to know everyone. Here, she can blend in with the crowd. And, supposedly, everyone is more mature in a college setting so her bully problems are officially gone. Though, that's mostly taken care of simply with the fact that Trent Demarco isn't here. She heard he went into the military after high school. After barely passing high school that is.

Still, college is very different. Full-time students are required to take a minimum of four classes but they can take as many as they want, except for first semester freshman. They're limited to a maximum of six classes so that they do not run the risk of getting themselves unintentionally overwhelmed. Ari is taking the maximum six classes this semester even though she knows she'd be fully capable of taking more. The benefits of the AllSpark's altercations to her brain.

Between her AP credits and the credits she earned from a semester at the community college she has enough transfer credits to take care of most of the General Education the college requires. She doesn't take all six classes in a single day, which is going to be a really weird adjustment. Some of them are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Others are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ari has four of the first and two of the second. For her first day of school, she starts off with Intro to Political Thought at 8 A.M. followed directly by Astronomy, a Gen Ed class she also apparently shares with Lina. Lina is taking it because she thinks it'll be an easy science credit. Ari's taking it because she's genuinely interested. And it'll also finish her off her science requirement. That ends at 10 and then she doesn't have any classes again until 1. Yeah, a very different schedule compared to high school but one she's going to like getting used to.

The first day of classes turns out to be something she is very familiar with: the going over of the course syllabus for each class. Some pretty basic stuff, but unlike at high school they do get actual homework on the first day. Mostly readings, though, so for Ari she has no homework. She spends the time half listening and half sketching the Cybertronian symbols in her notebook. The large classrooms, some having over 100 students, keeps teachers from noticing she's not fully paying attention.

The Cybertronian symbols are old, older than what Cybertronians use now. Compared to human language, it looks to be the equivalent of Cuneiform in the evolution of the written word. It's all a little jumbled in her head but by the time she joins Lina in Astronomy she has all the symbols written out in what looks to be the proper order. At least, the only order that makes any kind of sense.

_When dawn alights the dagger's tip, three kings will reveal the doorway._

Yep, definitely a riddle, one that Ari starts to doubt she'll be able to solve in time. She sets her pencil down on the desk with a sigh and props her chin up on the heel of her hand, tuning back into the professor's lecture. Their Astronomy teacher, Professor Colon, is kind of…crazy, and there are implications that he may have a not so healthy and professional relationship with some of his female students, but overall he's kind of entertaining.

According to the AllSpark Einstein is wrong, though, but other than that very entertaining.

Towards the end of class Ari feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and tension latches onto her spine. There are eyes on her. Peeking through the curtain of her hair she surreptitiously glances around the room at the other students. Most of the girls are riveted with the teacher, especially those down front. Some people are zoning out, doodling like she had or simply staring off into space. And then there is one, near the far back corner of the room.

Allan.

He's staring right at her with that predatory look again. She can almost feel it when his eyes graze over her exposed arms. She thought about covering her scars when she got dressed this morning, but Lina saw them yesterday and didn't even bat an eyelash. Hasn't said a word. Makes her feel silly considering all the fuss she made a couple days ago when she tried to heal them. They don't mark her nearly as deeply as she thought they did. But it's not her scars Allan is looking at. It's her AllSpark marks. He narrows his eyes at them with interest. Then they flit to her notebook and go big with blatant surprise. Ari quickly closes the notebook, hiding the Cybertronian symbols from his view.

Why would Allan be surprised by something he could only possibly think of as scribbles?

Before she can think too much on it Professor Colon is dismissing the class and she and Lina gather up their things to leave.

"So, what class do you have next?" Lina asks.

"Don't," Ari says. "I've got a break right now."

"Ugh, lucky. I've got Drawing and Painting 1 right now."

Ari smirks. "Not looking forward to it?"

"God, no. I'm only taking it for the creative requirement. Stupid Gen Eds. What's the point? I mean, it's basically high school classes all over again." They come up to the split in the path, the art building in one direction and the dorms in the other. "So when is your next class?"

"Around one."

"Cool. Wait for me to eat lunch, alright? You, me, and the guys will all get it together."

A slow smile builds on Ari's face. She's getting asked to lunch. That's never happened before, except for Sideswipe of course. "Yeah, sure."

The two of them part ways and Ari heads back to the dorms, a lighter step in her feet. She's almost to her building when someone falls into step with her.

"Hi," Allan says, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his shorts and a charming smile on his face. "The name's Allan."

She smiles at him politely but she really doesn't like how close he's walking to her, their arms almost brushing. "I'm Ari."

Allan reaches the double doors to the dorm building first, holding it open and waving her through with an exaggerated bow. She rolls her eyes but enters anyway, Allan following behind her up the stairs to her floor. The hall is mostly empty now with classes in full swing for the day. Ari digs her keys out of her messenger bag and pauses at her door. "What do you want, Allan?"

He leans his shoulder against the wall. "I thought you and I could get together. Have some fun."

She glances up at him as she puts her key in the lock. "Not interested." Shoving her door open she steps inside her room, but when she attempts to close it behind her Allan sticks his foot in the doorway. The door bounces off of his tennis shoe and he barges in, closing the door behind him. She drops her bag on the floor and backs up away from Allan. "Get out of my room," she says sternly. This feels like stuff with Trent all over again and she's not going to have any of it.

"Aw, come on, Ari," Allan says as he stalks closer to her. She backs up further until the backs of her legs hit her bed. "Not even a little fun? You and me could go for a ride." He steps right up to her, their chests brushing, forcing Ari to sit down on the bed in order to get away. "Or we could go for a…different kind of ride."

"No, I'd like you to leave." This is getting really out of hand and she's trapped in a corner. She'll have to hurt him in order to get out, but there is one other option. She pulls her pendant out from under her shirt, gripping it in her hand to hide her thumb pushing the yellow button on the back. In a flash Allan grabs her wrists and moves her so that she's laying down on the bed, Allan on top of her. "Hey! Get off!"

"Just relax, Ari. Let yourself have a little fun. I have needs. You have needs." She tries to kick him off but he settles the length of his body on top of her, pinning her. Flashbacks play across her vision with Ron on top of her and her fear spikes. "And I always get what I want."

Allan crashes his mouth against hers, kissing her, shoving his tongue into her mouth. She gags. His mouth tastes funny, almost like diesel. She thrashes around but he's too heavy. Then she hears the door crash open and Allan leans back a little to look. Sideswipe's holoform stands there, fury written all over his face. With Allan distracted she lashes out, her knee connecting with his groin, and he grunts in pain. Sideswipe steps forward, grabbing a fistful of Allan's shirt, and yanks him off of her, tossing him clean across the room to connect with Lina's desk. Sideswipe takes her hand, helping her off the bed and pulling her close, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Are you okay?" Sideswipe asks, his eyes hard and trained on Allan who is slowly starting to get up.

Ari presses herself even closer against Sideswipe's side. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for the rescue."

Sideswipe's grip on her tightens and he backs them up slowly. "Uh, I don't think this is over."

Allan is crouched on the ground, glaring at them, when his face starts breaking apart like shedding scales revealing metal underneath. Ari's eyes go wide as he growls, opening his mouth to allow his tongue to slither out several feet, a long, metal tongue with only the very tip covered in pink flesh. Ari isn't sure whether she should scream or puke. That thing was inside her mouth. But then the tongue darts out towards her messenger bag still lying on the floor and she instantly reacts. She darts out of the protective circle of Sideswipe's arms, activating one of her bracelets as she dives for her bag. She grabs the strap at the same time the slimy tongue wraps around it and she swipe at it, cutting the end of the tongue off. "Allan" screeches, the rest of his body breaking down until he's completely metal with glowing red eyes.

"What _is_ that?" Ari asks, flinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder across her chest and stepping closer to Sideswipe again.

"It's a Pretender." Sideswipe pulls Ari behind him and starts easing them towards the door. The Pretender crouches low, growling, ready to pounce.

"Hey, Ari, have you seen my College Algebra book? I have class in like, five minutes." Lina enters the room seeing first Sideswipe, then Ari, and then the Pretender. She just stares for a few heartbeats and then she screams.

Looks like the war has begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, cliffy. Lol, I know, I know, I'm very bad. But now we have a full start to Revenge of the Fallen so buckle up because it's going to be a bumpy ride!
> 
> Next chapter is the part of the movie we all hate. You know what I'm talking about. :(
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	32. One Shall Rise, One Shall Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I am back for another chapter after two weeks, as promised. Things are still a bit hectic for me. I have a job interview later today, wish me luck!
> 
> I had to watch these scenes from the movie so many times so I could get the action sequences right. I still kind of don't like it though, fighting and action like this has never been my strong suit, but hopefully you all will like it well enough.
> 
> This chapter is the sad one that we all hate from the movie. :( :( :(

The Pretender narrows its optics at Lina, adjusting its stance to take in the newcomer. With the Pretender's attention diverted, Sideswipe inches Ari and him closer to the door.

"What is that?" Lina screeches, pointing a shaky finger at the Pretender. "What _is_ that?"

"Well, it used to be Allan," Ari says when they reach Lina who's still standing frozen in the doorway of the dorm. The Pretender shifts its optics back to Ari, flitting back and forth between her face and her messenger bag. She tightens her grip on the bag's strap. "Technically it's an alien."

"An alien?" Lina balks. "What the hell? _What is going on?_ "

Before anyone can say anything the Pretender launches forward. Sideswipe takes the brunt of the force, catching the Pretender's arm and using its momentum to swing it into the hallway wall. "Run!" Sideswipe yells. He catches Ari's hand, Ari grabs Lina's wrist, and they're all running towards the stairs, screams following after them as students panic.

"What's in the bag?" Sideswipe asks, his voice echoing around the stairwell as they take the stairs down two at a time.

"Cybertronian symbols I wrote down in my notebook," Ari says. "They're the key to whatever the Fallen is after."

Sideswipe casts a curious look over his shoulder at her. "When did you get those?"

"Last night. The Primes showed me. I was going to tell you after class but then-"

The Pretender's long tongue latches onto Sideswipe's arm and he's yanked backwards towards the Pretender standing on the landing. As soon as Sideswipe is close enough the Pretender stabs its hand through Sideswipe's stomach. There's no mess. No blood; no gore. Just a metal hand sticking out of his back. Lina screams. Sideswipe's mouth gapes open and he starts to flicker like a T.V. losing signal. Then the holoform blinks out entirely. Ari just stares, heart in her throat, before the Pretender turns its optics on her and she's moving again, dragging Lina along behind her.

"That thing just killed Sideswipe!" Lina yells as they burst into the lobby of the dorm building.

"He's fine! Don't worry!" Ari says, rushing around loitering students and out the double doors to the courtyard. She knows he's fine but she has to keep telling herself that. It was only the holoform. The Pretender destroyed the holoform but Sideswipe is really fine. If they can reach the parking lot, then they'll be fine too. Ari grabs her pendant and presses the black button for the comm. "Sideswipe, you there?"

::Yeah, I'm here,:: Sideswipe replies, flooding her with some relief. ::That felt really weird though.::

"We're heading your way." There are explosions behind them and screaming and then the dorm building doors blow off their hinges, the doors flying several meters past Ari and Lina. "Actually, I think you may need to come to us."

::I'm on my-holy slag!::

Ari hears another explosion, this one coming from the parking lot, and she sees Sideswipe standing up to his bipedal form facing away from her. He fires his blaster at another Decepticon coming towards the campus. Her jaw clenches. It's Barricade.

::Ari, you're gonna have to find another way out of here. This may take a while. Optimus and the others were already on their way because they detected Decepticon activity in the area and Sunny's on his way too, but they're still a ways out. Just buy yourselves some time.::

"Alright. Be careful." With a quick glance around she heads towards the library, still dragging Lina behind her. She looks back to see the Pretender walking towards them, now transformed back into Allan's form. He's following them at such a casual pace like he knows that, without any effort, he is going to catch them. They burst into the library and the doors close behind them, interrupting their view.

"What are we doing?" Lina whispers, sensitive to where they are despite the urgency of the situation.

"We're going to hide in here until help comes," Ari says. The school library is massive with two stories, the main floor with the majority of the book collection surrounding a cluster of tables for students to work at and an upper balcony floor ringing the walls above with more books and computers. To the left the elevator dings, students stepping out with books in hand and Ari rushes into it, Lina following behind her. She presses the button for the second floor and then holds down the close doors button until they finally start moving upwards. The adrenaline rushing through their systems makes the short ride to the second floor seem like hours instead of seconds, but when the doors do open again they burst out, students giving them curious glances as they run around the balcony to one of the giant eagle statues in the corner overlooking the first floor. They crouch next to it, using both the statue and the marble railing as cover as they peek out. Their breathing is heavy and loud in their ears as they wait for something to happen, but for the moment they are safe.

"Man, I can't believe this is happening," Lina says, breaking the silence.

Ari chuckles breathlessly. "I figured you'd be thrilled. This is basically what you've been searching for."

"Yeah, but I never thought they'd actually come after me, you know?"

Ari looks away from the bottom floor to glance at Lina curiously. "What are you talking about?"

Lina looks at her wide-eyed. "It's me. I'm the key to this. The aliens want me cause of my site."

Well, that's a little self-centered, but really, what else is Lina supposed to think? That her roommate is mixed up with the very aliens she has been trying to get the scoop on for a long time now? Not likely. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Lina, but they're not after you."

Lina looks at her as if Ari personally offended her. "Of course they are. Why else would they be here?"

"Because," Ari looks back out to the first floor, eying the entrance cautiously, "I have something they want."

"Seriously? Then give it to them!"

The elevator doors explode, sending students running and screaming. The Pretender, no longer looking like Allan again, instantly spots them. Ari and Lina stand, backing away slowly. With no other options readily available Ari does the only thing she can do. She vaults over the railing, jumping on top of one of the fluorescent lights hanging down from the ceiling. She clutches onto one of the wires connecting it to the ceiling for dear life. The Pretender fires at her. She ducks, narrowly missing getting hit, but it wasn't really aiming at her. It hits the wire she had been holding onto and the wire snaps, causing the light to tilt down with one less support and Ari loses her footing, sliding off of the light. She tries to grab onto something but can't, falling down to the floor of the first floor with a hard thump. Groaning, she gets her feet under her in time to see Lina climbing down a ladder a few feet away having used the Pretender's distraction to her advantage. The Pretender fires at them and they run as blasts hit the book cases around them, sending paper flying up into the air like autumn leaves. One of the blasts hits the wall, creating a large hole. Ari and Lina run towards it just as the Pretender starts climbing down to them and they escape out towards the parking lot.

Sideswipe and Barricade are nowhere to be seen now, their fight having taken them elsewhere. With no time to worry on that now Ari runs towards the nearest car and yanks on the door handle. She goes from car to car and on the third one she finds one that's unlocked. She kneels down, yanking out the wires underneath the steering wheel. Using one of her blades she cuts the ones she wants and touches the frayed ends together repeatedly causing, them to spark.

"You know how to hot wire a car?" Lina asks with deep surprise, getting into the passenger seat.

"My dad taught me how," Ari says, remembering the day Will taught her to do this so that, just in case there wasn't an Autobot to help her, she could still get herself away if she had to. She had told him how most parents would be appalled at their children knowing such a skill, not teaching them how to do it.

The sparks finally take and the engine roars to life. Ari quickly gets in and puts the car in reverse.

"Holy crap, look out!" Lina yells and the Pretender launches itself onto the hood of the car. Ari steps on the gas, speeding out of parking space and following the road that goes along the school leading out to the main highway. The Pretender attacks the car, punching through the glass trying to get at them and Ari swerves back and forth trying to make the Decepticon lose its footing and fall off. It doesn't work though and the Pretender just digs its servos into the car's metal.

"No means no," Ari says darkly and she presses harder on the accelerator aiming right for a lamp post. They collide with a jerking halt, the front of the car getting completely smashed and the Pretender pancaked between the car and the post. Ari backs the car away, the ruined remains of the Decepticon falling to the asphalt in front of the car and as Ari turns to continue down the road she feels satisfaction as the tires run it over.

"So is there anything else you would like to tell me?" Lina asks as they pull out onto the highway, starting to sound annoyed at being shot at, running for her life, and having no clue why.

Ari weaves in and out of traffic, cars horns blaring around them, so not wanting to deal with this right now. Especially since she's trying to concentrate on driving. It's been over two years since she's actually driven a car.

"Yeah, there's a lot I haven't told you," she says with her own irritation, "but now isn't-slaggit!" She slams on the brakes as a Decepticon known as Grinder drops out of the sky in his helicopter alt mode, cutting them off. The car skids, turning in a complete circle before it comes to a stop. Before Ari can get the car going again something pierces through the roof of the car, prongs shooting out to create a hook, and they are lifted into the air. Ari's starting to miss Sideswipe automatically buckling her seatbelt as the car tilts, nose facing the ground as they're carried through the air, and she and Lina grab ahold of whatever they can in order to stay in their seats.

"Give it to them!" Lina yells. "Just give it to them!"

"No," Ari snaps.

"I'm not dying for you."

Ari's jaw clenches and she meets Lina's glare with a steady stare letting her see her fear, worry, and truth. "If I give it to them, then we all die."

She pulls out her notebook from her messenger bag and leafs through the pages until she finds the one with the Cybertronian symbols. She tears the pages into as small of pieces as she can manage and then rolls down her window to scatter the pieces as they fly over a lake. Now the only way the Decepticons can get what they want is to go through her. And there is no way in the Pit she's giving it to them.

Grinder releases them and then they are in free-fall, bursting through the glass roof of an abandoned factory. The car crashes to the ground nose-first, the airbags deploy, and then the car falls onto its back. Ari lands painfully on her back on the roof of the car, feeling glass from the busted windshield dig into her skin. Lina groans beside her, moving sluggishly but moving nonetheless.

Something buzzes outside of the car, a high-pitched whirring, and then a huge saw cleanly slices the car in half causing the car to split open like a cracked oyster with Ari safely on one side and Lina on the other. They both quickly stand, scrabbling out of the destroyed car, as Starscream kneels over them with an angry growl. He moves his head extremely close to her face, red optics narrowed, but then he backs away to stand. The sound of stomping Cybertronian feet causes her to turn and there is Megatron standing in front of the balcony floor they are on. The breath catches in Ari's throat and she can feel her heart pounding in her chest as if it's going to explode.

They did it. The Decepticons used the AllSpark shard she powered to bring back Megatron.

"Come here, girl," Megatron orders.

Ari raises her hands placatingly and glances at Lina. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. You just stay here." Lina gives a small, terrified nod and Ari moves towards the stairs that lead down to the lower level, trying to steel herself physically and mentally for whatever is about to happen.

"Closer." Ari starts down the stairs, moving slowly so that she can keep her eyes on Megatron without tripping over her feet. "You remember me, don't you?"

Ari smirks, trying to keep up a calm facade. "Hard to forget ugly faceplates like yours."

"Silence!" Megatron's claw-like servos snatch her up and fling her onto a table on the ground floor. She sees stars for a moment, can hear Lina's screams, but then Megatron's face is right over top of her as he holds her down. She struggles against him, knowing it's fruitless but she can't just do nothing.

"It feels good to grab your flesh." Megatron grins down at her, revealing his sharp teeth. "I am going to kill you. Slowly. Painfully. But first, we have some delicate work to do." He looks off to the side. "Doctor, examine this alien specimen."

Ari follows his optics to see, sitting on another table nearby, a familiar microscope transform into Scalpel. Her stomach clenches painfully. Scalpel will have ways of getting information out of her, none of them the easy and pleasant kind.

He jumps onto her chest, peering down at her through his glasses. "Hello, human. Shall vee continue vere vee left off?"

Scalpel pulls out another one of those slimy, metal worms that he used whenever they had taken her to their base in the caves. Ari gulps. They're going to force the information out of her. Scalpel pries her mouth open with his legs and places the worm at her mouth. It slithers inside and down her throat, causing her to gag. She tries to work her throat to throw it back up but it just crawls its way inside her and then there is a searing pain. Images start to flash in front of her eyes, the past two years, getting the healing mark, and Ari is screaming inside her head. They're going to get the symbols. She has to stop them but it's so hard to concentrate right now with her mind being pulled in so many directions, to so many memories, as the worm searches out the information it wants. The worm finds one of her doors, a door leading to some of the knowledge she's acquired thanks to the AllSpark, and in desperation she locks her mind down on it, locking the door as tightly as she can. The worm pushes at the door but it does not give, then it bangs at it. Still it will not give. Triumph surges through her and Ari goes from door to door in her mind as fast as possible, locking each of them until the worm can't get to where it needs to go. After a few more moments of searching and banging on the doors the worm finally gives up, squirming back out of her mouth.

Scalpel connects to it, going through the images the worm found, and gives a frustrated huff. "Zee human is resistink. I need zee brain on zee table!"

"She is the AllSpark," Megatron says. "It would be such a pity to lose it a second time."

"AllShpark or zee location of zee energon source. I cannot give both."

"The Fallen would want the energon source found more an AllSpark that won't work for us. Very well. Relieve the human of her brain."

One of Scalpel's claws transforms into a saw and Ari starts struggling again. "Sideswipe!"

She can literally feel the small amount of wind the saw makes blow against her forehead when the ceiling explodes and Optimus is dropping down, firing at Megatron and suddenly she's free. She gets up and hides behind a pillar as Optimus fights Megatron and Starscream off. Sideswipe bursts through the far wall and grabs Lina. Ari yearns to run to him as well, but the fighting is right between her and him.

::Go, Sideswipe,:: she hears Optimus say over the General Comm. ::Take the human girl to safety. I will take care of Ari.::

"It's okay, Sides," Ari adds in, using her pendant. "I'll be fine. Go."

Sideswipe looks at her for a long moment and then nods, transforming so that Lina is safely enclosed in his alt mode and then speeding away. She looks back at Optimus to see him shoot Megatron squarely in the chest with his blaster, sending Megatron flying through a wall. Optimus then quickly scoops her up, transforms, and they are taking off as well. Buckled up in Optimus's cab she finally starts to feel safe.

They drive for a while, Optimus's scanners still picking up Decepticon activity as they chase them, still wanting to get information out of her. Megatron says she knows where the "energon source" is. She has no idea what that means besides energon being, well, basically the food Cybertronians need in order to survive. So there's energon somewhere on Earth? Considering how far humans have spread throughout the planet she figures something like that would have been found by now. But if Megatron is searching for it for the Fallen, then it has to be here. Somewhere.

They eventually leave the city behind. Pine trees spread out in every direction in one of the few areas of Nevada that are filled with green life instead of the barren red of the desert or the concrete gray made by humans. Ari leans back in her seat as the scenery wizzes by, relaxing her tense muscles. It is a false calm though. Something explodes behind them. The rearview mirror shows Megatron chasing them. Optimus transforms as he rolls out of the way of another blaster shot. He deposits her on the ground as he continues to run, drawing Megatron away.

"Hide, Ari!" Optimus yells and Ari does as she's told, running away from the grappling Optimus and Megatron while still keeping them in view. She doesn't want to leave Optimus behind. She can't. Not if there's a chance she can help. Things go good for Optimus at first. He stands firmly against Megatron, beating him down. Then Starscream and Grinder appear to join the fight. And Starscream chases after her. She takes off, dodging Starscream's reaching hands, and she can hear Optimus chasing after Starscream and the others chasing after him. Optimus catches Starscream, flinging him away. Now it's three against one.

"There is another source of energon hidden on this planet," Megatron says, trying to reason with Optimus. "The girl could lead us to it." Megatron gets in a good hit, knocking Optimus to the ground. "Is the future of our race not worth a single human life?"

_Come on, Optimus. Get up. Get up._

Optimus gets one foot underneath him, then the other, determination in his stance. "You'll never stop at one." His blade extends out of his arm. "I'll take you _all_ on!"

Optimus fights in a delicate dance as if every move is choreographed. Every time he's knocked down he gets back up with twice the strength left in him. Ari tries to stay ahead of the battle but they keep drifting her way causing her to run for a new hiding spot. But she won't leave Optimus. The others should be here soon anyway, right? And besides, three Decepticons seems like nothing to him. After only a few minutes more Optimus has a grip on Grinder's head with his hooks, tearing it apart, and he's slipping away from the others.

"Ari, where are you?" Optimus calls out and she's just about to break cover from the fallen tree trunk she's hiding behind when Megatron comes out of nowhere, stabbing a blade through Optimus's back straight through his spark chamber.

"No!" Ari screams. "No, Optimus!" She runs, urging her legs to go as fast as they can towards Optimus. She has to get to him. If she can get to him in time, then maybe she can save him.

But Optimus is shaking his head at her. "Ari…," he says weakly. "Run. Get…away."

His optics begin to flicker on and off and Ari continues to run. No, she won't leave him. He wouldn't leave her. Then Megatron turns his optics on her and makes a grab at her, forcing her back off. She tries again, trying to slip between their legs, but Megatron's hand comes way too close and she retreats again. She looks back at Optimus, desperately wishing for him to hang on.

Her breath hitches in her throat. It's too late. His optics are completely black. He's offlined. Optimus Prime is dead.

The Autobots finally arrive, firing on Megatron and Starscream, pushing them back. Ari just stands before it all, frozen, staring at Optimus's lifeless body. More than anything she wants to go to him, to use her powers to save him, but it's too late. She can feel it. There's no life left in him. She can go up to him and fix him but it won't do any good. His spark, his life essence, his soul, it's not there anymore. She'd just be fixing a shell.

Hands grab her, jerking her out of her shocked state. She struggles against them until the familiar warmth of Sideswipe's spark registers and she realizes she's in his arms, not Megatron's. He transforms around her, putting her in his passenger seat, and then they're driving away from the battle.

Away from Optimus.

Tears stream down her face, a sob getting trapped in her throat, and she curls in on herself, feet on the seat and head buried against her knees. A hand touches her shoulder, a human hand, and then she's being lifted across the center console to sit in the lap of Sideswipe's holoform. He wraps his arms around her, holding her tight. She buries her face in the crook of his neck, clutches his shirt, and cries, all the while with Sideswipe whispering in her ear that everything's going to be okay but it's not. It's not.

Because Optimus is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. Optimus died. I may be changing things about this movie, but that stayed the same. Unfortunately.
> 
> Next time we get a bit of Will and co. mixed in, see how they're doing. I'll post the chapter in two weeks and this pattern will probably continue through April. Camp NaNoWriMo is coming up and I want to participate. I'm working on getting far enough ahead so that I can keep doing updates on this while I focus on my other writing.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	33. Keep Fighting the Good Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, guys, buckle up, because the next few chapter are going to be one Pit of a ride.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

They drive in silence for a long time, Ari still in the lap of Sideswipe's holoform. Her head rests on his shoulder as he traces random patterns on her back, his other hand nestled in her hair. Neither of them say anything. The radio stays off. They just stare blankly at nothing at all. Ari feels numb now that her tears are spent. Like her chest is raw after being filled with so much emotion. And she clings to that feeling because the alternative is to fall into the all-consuming abyss of grief. She can't afford to give into that now. They're on the run, Sunstreaker, Skids, and Mudflap driving behind them, Decepticons still hunting them, though they've managed to lose them for now, and a riddle to solve before the Fallen finds this so-called "energon source" first. There is no time for grieving now. Besides, she isn't the one who's grieving most. The Autobots just lost their leader and friend. They've known Optimus for a lot longer than she has. And Bumblebee. Ari may have started to consider Optimus like a father to her, but Bumblebee was literally raised by him. Bee was one of the last sparklings born before the start of the war and his parental units died early on. Optimus then took Bee under his wing like his own. No, she is not the one hurting most right now. So she has to stay strong. For them. For Optimus. Because it's the only way she's going to make it through this alive.

Sometime later, minutes, hours, she's not sure really, they come across an old abandoned village, all stone walls and buildings. Perhaps, once upon a time, it used to be a small factory town that fell into disrepair as people moved to the bigger cities. It looks like it would have been a safe, peaceful place to live. The kind of place where everyone knew everyone and locked doors weren't necessary. Now it's falling apart with junk piling up and nature slowly taking back what's hers.

They park in a little courtyard among the buildings next to a couple of broken-down cars. Reluctantly, Ari gets out of the protective space of Sideswipe's arms and his alt mode, his holoform following behind her. Mudflap opens his passenger-side door and Lina tumbles out onto the patchy grass, crawling backwards with her hands and feet away from everyone.

"What's going on?" Lina screeches, her voice holding hints of hysteria as she gets her feet under her to stand on shaky legs. "We've been chased and shot at and you said aliens and Sideswipe _died_ but he's _right there_ and then there were these giant robot things and then one of them grabbed me and shoved me into that car and then the car was driving _by itself_ and-"

"Lina," Ari clamps her hands down on Lina's shoulders giving her a gentle squeeze. "I know you're really freaked out right now but if you'll just calm down I'll explain."

"Yeah," Mudflap says through his radio, "you ain't even seen nothin' yet." He transforms into his bipedal form, standing with a smug smirk on his face and hands on his hips proudly.

"What yah doin', stupid?" Skids says, standing up to his bipedal form as well. "Actin' like yo some badaft. Mech, yo wouldn't know a badaft if yo was smacked upside the head by one."

"Oh, really? Well, this badaft is about to whoop yo aft."

"Robots," Lina says breathlessly with a slight quiver to her voice, "giant freaking robots. And I was inside that red one."

"We ain't robots," Mudflap says.

"Yeah, we aliens," Skids adds. "Cybertronians."

Lina nods numbly, looking like she's not even aware she's doing it. Then her eyes roll back in her head and she falls to the ground, fainted.

Sideswipe's holoform blinks out and he stands to his bipedal form, Sunny standing next to him. "Nice going knuckle heads," Sides says.

Ari sighs. "I'll try to wake her."

She kneels down next to Lina, shaking her shoulders and then resorting to slapping the side of her face, trying to be gentle. Lina's eyes blink open blearily, still filled with a little bit of fear and panic.

"Lina," Ari says calmly, "no one here is going to hurt you."

She helps Lina to sit up and when Lina sees Sides and Sunny her eyes go big again and she turns a few shades whiter. "There's more of them?"

Ari sits cross-legged on the ground next to her. "Just…let me explain. Please."

Lina listens quietly, the longest she's ever gone without talking, and she's quiet a long time after as she tries to absorb. Eventually she just gets up and walks off. Ari lets her go, figuring she just needs some time alone. It is a lot to process and not everyone is going to handle it as easily as Ari, or even Sarah, did. It's one thing to be searching for proof that aliens exist. It's another entirely for that proof to be right in front of you and then try to kill you.

Though it's not long until Lina is calling Ari's name, a different kind of panic in her voice. Ari rushes through the town following the sound of Lina's voice, the Autobots following behind her. Could the Decepticons have found them already? Lina's calls seem to be coming from one of the warehouses and Ari holds up a hand signaling the Autobots to wait. She peeks her head in. Lina sits on some metal stairs leading up to a catwalk, staring down at her phone in shock. Ari breathes a sigh of relief, tells the Autobots it was a false alarm, and then goes to sit next to Lina on the stairs.

"What's up?" Ari asks.

Lina angles the phone so Ari can see the screen. "Check this out. This is so not good."

The international news is playing on the phone and Ari watches in horror as the Fallen looks back at her. The connection is a little fuzzy but it's definitely him, just as she's seen from the AllSpark.

And he's just revealed the existence of Cybertronians to the human race.

"Citizens of the human hive," the Fallen says, his deep voice filled with the power of his age and the coldness of his spark, "your leaders have withheld the truth. You are not alone in this universe. We have lived among you. Hidden. But no more. As you've seen, we can destroy your cities at will. Unless you hand over this girl." Pictures of Ari flash across the screen, even her driver's license and Social Security card. "If you resist us, we will destroy the world as you know it."

The footage of the Fallen cuts out as a pair of newscasters come back on and they speculate about the Fallen's message, the series of attacks the Decepticons orchestrated all around the globe, and why Ari is so important to them. Screenshots taken from traffic cameras from earlier today show on-screen of both Ari and Lina.

"You see that?" Lina says anxiously. "F.B.I., C.I.A., they're all looking for us. We're wanted fugitives."

Ari rakes a hand through her hair in frustration and walks away, heading back towards the others in the courtyard. This is so not what they need right now. Every country in the world now has a manhunt out for them which is only going to make it harder to find the energon source and stop the Fallen. She understands that these people are scared. Decepticons just went around and started blowing up major cities. The humans have no idea what to do. They just want to make the killing and destruction stop. They want the Decepticons to go away and leave Earth alone.

"Hey," Lina says a few steps behind her. "Hey, Ari?"

"What?" Ari asks tiredly.

"What are we going to do about this?" She holds up her phone. "I mean, this is so not good, right?"

They round the corner into the courtyard and Mudflap yells, "Yo, Lina!"

Lina jumps in surprise and points an accusatory finger at him. "That thing's gonna give me a heart attack, I swear."

Ari turns on Lina with a glare, her sadness, fear, and frustration making her snap easily. "Mudflap is not a 'thing'."

"Yeah," Mudflap says. "I ain't a thing. Yous just a wuss."

With a roll of her eyes Ari approaches Sides and Sunny, ignoring the bickering of the three behind her as she brings the twins up to speed. Sides and Sunny exchange worried glances when she's done, speaking over their bond from the looks of it.

"What?" Ari asks. "You guys look like this is worse than I already think it is."

"Well," Sideswipe says hesitantly, "if the Fallen transmitted his message to every T.V. on the planet, then that means the Decepticons must've hacked directly into one of your human satellites."

"And if they did that," Sunny continues, "then that probably means Soundwave is here."

An image comes to mind, the AllSpark providing her a face for the name. And it doesn't look so good. He's big; real big. Bigger than Optimus, and smart, too, one of the most cunning of the Decepticons besides Megatron himself.

"He's probably the one who found the location of the base," Sides adds. "And probably found out where you were going to college."

"So he's probably tracking us right now?" Ari asks.

"Yep. So we can't contact anyone at N.E.S.T., not even over the Comms."

"Right. Okay." Ari walks up to Lina who's still bickering with the smaller twins, snatches her phone out of her hand, and smashes it on the ground, stomping on it for good measure to make sure it is crushed into as many little pieces as possible.

"Hey!" Lina protests. "What did you do that for?"

"It can be traced," Ari says with a shrug. She doesn't destroy her phone. Because she lost it. And her bag. Again. Seems to be a starting tradition for these end-of-the-world adventures.

Lina's mouth hangs open. "They can track us? Like, satellite track us? This isn't fair! Technically I'm not even with you guys! I'm a hostage. I was forced into that car. Look, here's what I'll do: I'll go to the authorities and tell them the truth. That I had nothing to do with this and they won't label me an accomplice."

Ari barks out a laugh. "I thought you wanted this? The real deal, right?" Lina shuts her mouth, not finding anything else to say. That's what Ari thought. "Stop complaining then."

* * *

Will has never felt so tired in his life. He's lost a lot of men during his time in the military. Strangers. Acquaintances. Friends. Brothers. It never really gets any easier. But on this day, with the death of Optimus Prime, the one person he thought he never would have lost, it all seems so much harder now. He keeps expecting the big guy to get back up, but when the helicopter drops his body on the base tarmac, lifeless and cold, he knows this isn't just some kind of bad dream. Everyone gathers around Optimus, disbelief heavy in the air that is shared among all of the men and women around him, and Will rubs a hand roughly across the top of his head causing his hair to spike up slightly.

They saw the news, of the Decepticon attacks and the Fallen calling out to the people of the world demanding Ari to be handed over to him. If Optimus where still alive, he would know what to do. Will's daughter is off Primus knows where, a fugitive. She could be safe, she could be running for her life still, she could be captured and he won't even know it until the Decepticons show up again dangling her corpse in their hands. But he shakes those thoughts away. He can't go thinking like that. Not now. He is the leader of this team and he needs to be strong. For them. Because whatever today was about, it isn't over. Not by a longshot. This Fallen guy is just getting started and they need to be ready to bring the rain wherever the storm ends up hitting.

The morbid silence that has fallen over the humans and Autobots is suddenly shattered when soldiers Will has never seen before surround their group in armored cars, aiming the guns on top at the Autobots.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ironhide asks, reading his own cannon along with the rest of the bots. "You dare point a gun at me? You want a piece of me? I will tear you apart!"

Will and the N.E.S.T. soldiers hold up their hands to the soldiers surrounding them, shouting for them to drop their weapons, but they won't listen. One wrong move on anyone's part and this could get ugly real fast.

A guy who looks like the commanding officer of these men walks forward and Will instantly approaches him. "Tell them to lower their weapons!" he demands.

"Tell them first," the officer says back.

"The Autobots haven't done anything to you. Tell them to lower their weap-"

"Major," a voice rings out over the crowd that sets Will's teeth on edge. Galloway steps out of one of the armored cars, Agent Coulson following behind with a frown on his face as opposed to his usual mask. "Your N.E.S.T. team is deactivated, Major. You are to cease anti-Decepticon operations and come with me to the Triskelion S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in D.C. pending further orders."

Will's fists clench at his sides. They so don't have time for this. He needs to go help his daughter. "No, we take our orders directly from Chairman Morshower, sir."

"Well, I'll see your Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Galloway takes out a piece of paper from his coat and holds it up, "and I will raise you the World Security Council. I have operational command now. An alien blood feud has been brought on our shores for which our soldiers are paying the price. The secret is out. This is our war now. And we will win it as we always have, with a coordinated military strategy."

"This fool is terribly misinformed," Ratchet mutters to Ironhide and Will can't help but agree with him.

"You're gonna need every asset that you've got," Will says, almost pleadingly.

Galloway doesn't even budge. "What we need is to draw up battle plans while we explore every possible diplomatic solution."

Burning anger flows over Will, churning deep in his stomach and threatening to burst out. "Like what, handing over my daughter?"

"Adopted daughter," Galloway corrects like that difference makes it all better, "and all options are being considered."

Galloway walks off, spouting orders, and Will turns to Agent Coulson. "Phil, you can't let him do this."

"I'm sorry, Will," Coulson says, slight distress entering his voice which reveals just how much he doesn't like this situation. "It's out of my hands. Fury tried to convince the Council not to do this, but they sided with Galloway. I've been ordered to take you to the Triskelion where they'll decided on what to do with the N.E.S.T. soldiers and Autobots."

"What do you mean by that?" Rob asks. "That's not just they're way of saying they're gonna make us disappear, is it?"

"It means, the Council isn't pleased with how this team operates. Galloway has them convinced that the past few days' events are your fault and that there could have been a way to prevent the attacks and the Fallen from coming to Earth."

Will crosses his arms in front of his chest with a deep scowl. "That's a load of slag. There's nothing we could have done. We couldn't have known this was gonna happen. And there's no negotiating with the Decepticons. Only my team and the Autobots have any chance at stopping them."

"I know," Coulson looks over Will's shoulder at where Galloway is talking to a couple of the officers he brought with him, "which is why I'm going to delay our departure as long as possible while you and the Autobots figure out a plan."

* * *

Night falls. Ari gets a fire going and they all huddle around it, the weight of the day keeping everyone silent, even Lina. Lina finally calmed down about the whole aliens-are-real thing a little while ago but Ari can tell by the distance Lina is keeping from the rest of the group that she is still far from okay with it.

Ari thinks about bringing up the possibility of food but, honestly, she isn't even remotely hungry even though she hasn't had anything to eat all day. So instead she stays where she is sitting on the ground with her legs drawn up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees, staring into the flames as she thinks about Optimus. About all the things she could have done differently to keep him from being killed.

A metal hand touches her shoulder and she looks up to see Sideswipe kneeling beside her, pain and sadness in his optics. "Ari-"

"I understand if you hate me, Sides," she says quietly before he can say more. "Optimus died because of me."

Sideswipe leans back slightly in shock. "Ari, what happened wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was." She turns her gaze back to the fire. "He got hurt trying to protect me. And then I couldn't get to him in time to save him."

"Optimus died so that you could live, so you could get away, so the Fallen couldn't use you for whatever he's planning. If he were here right now he would tell you he wouldn't change anything. _Any_ of us would die to protect you."

"No," Ari growls. "I don't care if I'm the AllSpark. I don't want any of you to die. Not for me." She stands and starts to pace, no longer able to stay still. All of this is her fault, Lina's involvement, Optimus's death, the Decepticon attacks. If she had just not gone to college, if she had just hidden away like Optimus had suggested, then none of this would have happened. She thought she knew what was right but now she doesn't know anymore. "I-I'm going to turn myself in."

Sideswipe stands. "You can't do that! Everything that's happened, everything we've fought for, it all would've been for nothing!"

Ari stops her steps to look at him, her body shaking with barely-suppressed tears. "I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me."

"If you turn yourself in, then we all die," Sunstreaker says from where he sits leaning against the courtyard wall.

Ari sits heavily on the ground again, head in her hands. No matter what she does people are going to die. Primus entrusted the AllSpark to her but she can feel everything falling apart at the seams. She's failed.

"Ari," Sideswipe says quietly, placing a finger under her chin and tilting her head up to look at him. "Let me play you something."

His Comm beeps static twice and then Optimus's voice comes out of his speakers sounding older and more tired than she's ever heard him. "I have but few moments left," Optimus says, "so I will be brief. Take care of Ari, Sideswipe. She is far more precious than a thousand AllSparks and will help our people and her own come into an age of peace. Protect her. Cherish her." The Comm beeps again and then he's gone.

"I got that transmission right before Optimus offlined," Sideswipe says softly. "He believed in you, Ari. He wouldn't want you to give up."

Ari can feel her cheeks wet with tears as Optimus's words echo in her head. She's the AllSpark, but he never saw her as that. He saw her as Ari. The human girl risking her life to get caught up in a war that wasn't originally hers. A young woman with enough heart and passion to become the Autobot Ambassador. Someone he once called the most selfless person he knows. The person Optimus saw in her, she wouldn't give up. She wouldn't give in to the Fallen.

She would fight.

Ari wipes the tears away from her face as she's filled with renewed determination. Sideswipe smirks as he sees it in the straightening of her shoulders and the glow in her eyes.

"So what do we do?" Sideswipe asks.

"We solve the riddle and find the energon source before the Fallen. The Primes gave me those symbols for a reason. It must be the key to stopping him."

"What's the riddle?" Sunstreaker asks.

Ari activates one of her bracelets and uses the blade to carve the symbols she's been seeing into the ground. "'When dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, Three Kings will reveal the doorway.'"

"Well, that don't make a whole lotta sense," Mudflap grumbles.

"I know," Ari agrees, looking at the symbols uncertainly. They could really use some help with this, but figuring it out is part of Primus's test for her. But maybe there are others who can help. "The Primes told me that there were others who came to Earth a long time ago using the riddle to probably find this energon source. They would probably know more about what we're looking for than we do."

"Can you use the AllSpark knowledge to find out what happened to them?" Sideswipe asks.

Ari shakes her head, not even having to try to know that all the doors to the Cybertronian knowledge are locked up tight. "No, Primus wants me to do this the old fashioned way. But they've got to be here somewhere on Earth still, right? Or else you guys would have heard about this riddle a long time ago."

"If they are still here, then they're either in stasis lock or offlined," Sunny says doubtfully. "And there's not even any guarantee we'll be able to find one in time."

"I know someone who may be able to help," Lina speaks up for the first time and everyone turns to her.

"Who?" Ari asks.

"Robo-Warrior. Anything about anything alien, he's supposed to know. And I may or may not revenge-hack his site on occasion." She smiles innocently. "There's a bunch of symbols just like yours all over it."

Ari looks at each of the Autobots, excitement shining in their optics. "Looks like we have a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, doing more and more movie stuff but with a couple of changes. I had to change how Will and Company end up flying all the way to Egypt. In the movie, they leave the U.S. to go back to Diego Garcia which is an island in the Indian Ocean. In this, they're already back at base (because it's in the U.S. and not on Diego Garcia) and had no reason to get on a plane to cross the Atlantic, let alone fly over Egypt. So I had to fix that up and there will be more coming later. And Coulson gets to help with that and have some fun.
> 
> Next chapter will have Simmons in it plus some more movie stuff. Hopefully the movie parts won't be too boring for you to read. I didn't want to just gloss over it because, you know, these are still important parts of the plot, but I'm not going to go through and rewrite everything when they did a perfectly good job in the movie either. Hopefully it's a good balance.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	34. Old Friends and Old Robots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, got a lot more movie stuff this chapter. Lol Jetfire was fun. RotF is almost over though. Just two more chapters after this and then we have some aftermath to take care of.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The next morning Ari and Lina both climb into Sideswipe's alt mode to head out to where Lina says Robo-Warrior lives. And whenever they enter the city limits of Mission City Ari can't help but laugh. Whoever Robo-Warrior is, they must be pretty obsessed about aliens to actually move to the city they attacked. Or maybe they lived here first and the attack is what led to the obsession. Either way, a person with such a big obsession may just have the information they're looking for.

It's weird being back here though after two years. Most everything is fixed by now, the streets repaved, the buildings made to look brand new once more. Despite the lack of rubble, with each block they pass Ari recognizes more and more. The street where Sideswipe lost his legs. The corner where Starscream landed right in front of her. The building she had to run to with the Cube.

The intersection where Ari killed Megatron.

Then they park on the curb across the street from a deli.

"Are we sure this is the place?" Sideswipe asks through his radio and Ari can't help but agree. This definitely isn't where she pictured an alien expert to live.

"Are you saying you doubt my skills?" Lina asks, opening Sideswipe's passenger door. "This is the place, I'm sure of it."

Sideswipe's holoform materializes in Lina's vacant seat. "If you say so."

"Might as well check it out," Ari says as she pulls on one of her zipper hoodies. "Won't do any harm. We'll wait ten seconds while you confirm it's Robo-Warrior and then we'll go in."

Lina gives two thumbs up with an exaggerated grin and then heads inside.

Ari sighs. "After getting over the shock of it all I think Lina is enjoying this a bit too much."

"Hey, it's better than her screaming, right?" Sideswipe says with a lopsided grin.

Sunstreaker's holoform walks up to Sideswipe's open door and bends his head to look inside. "So, we doing this?"

Ari lifts the hood of her jacket to cover her head and provide some disguise for her face. "Let's do this."

The three of them head inside the deli, Skids and Mudflap staying behind to keep a lookout. There are a couple of people inside the deli, a few workers, some customers, and she spots Lina near the counter talking to the guy who looks to be the owner of the place.

And he is very familiar.

"That's him," Lina says excitedly as she makes her way over to them, pointing at none other than former-agent Simmons. "That's Robo-Warrior."

"No," Simmons says in disbelief when he sees her, disbelief that is mirrored on Ari's face.

She yanks her hood off her head. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What did you say about this not doing any harm?" Sideswipe mutters in her ear.

"Yeah," Sunny says, "are we sure we want to be dealing with this guy?"

"Wait, wait, wait." Lina looks back and forth between them and Simmons. "You know this guy?"

"Oh, yeah, we're old friends," Ari says sarcastically as Simmons comes out from around the counter yelling at everyone else to get out. The customers grumble but obligingly leave.

"Old friends?" Simmons says, now standing in front of them looking like he'd rather throw them out too. "You're the case that shut down Sector Seven. No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing. So what are you doing here? Come to shut down my deli, too?"

"Looks like your mom's deli to me," Sunny says with a smirk, eying an older woman behind Simmons who's arguing with one of the workers.

"No," Simmons says in frustration, "my momma lives with me, I don't live with her. There's a difference."

"Look, Simmons," Ari says, drawing attention back to her and away from the growing argument, "the reason we're here is because we need your help."

"Oh, really? You expect me to just up and help a bunch of fugitives? That's right. I saw the news. You're faces are all over it. And NBE-1. Still kicking, huh? Don't answer. I don't know what you're hiding but I don't want anything to do with it." He shoos them towards the door. "Goodbye. You never saw me." Simmons starts walking away, muttering to himself about bagels.

"Wait!" Ari reaches out to grab his arm. He halts in his tracks, head whipping around to look at her in slight shock. That's right, last they saw each other Ari couldn't stand to be touched by anyone.

"Glad to see you're getting better," he says with a nod.

She nods back. "Thanks." She lets go of his arm and doesn't move to walk aff again. "We really need your help, Simmons. I have these Cybertronian symbols in my head and they make this riddle that makes absolutely no sense to us. We need to find someone who understands it. This could be the key to stopping the Decepticons. Please. Will you help us?"

Simmons narrows his eyes at her and doesn't say anything for several moments. "Alright," he says finally. "You said symbols, right?"

Ari nods eagerly. "Yeah. That's right."

"Meat locker, now!"

The four of them look at each other quizzically but follow Simmons when he walks off without another word. He takes them into a walk-in fridge with a bunch of pigs and other animal carcasses hanging from hooks. In the floor near the back Simmons opens a hatch revealing a set of stairs. He leads them down into a secret room filled with piles upon piles of files and metal filing cabinets and even Frenzy's head kept in a glass container.

"Holy slag, Simmons," Ari says, a little overwhelmed. "Where did all of this come from?"

"Before I got fired I poached S-7's crown jewel." Simmons is running all around the room pulling a bunch of different files from different piles. "It's over seventy-five years of alien research, which all points to one inescapable fact: Cybertronians have been here before." He starts laying his files and pictures on a nearby table. "These the symbols in your head?"

She looks them over, a bunch of different shots taken at different places, like China, Egypt, Greece, at different times, all with the same symbols she recognizes. "Yeah, that's them."

Simmons nods excitedly. "Archaeologists found these symbols in ancient ruins all over the world. So, tell me, how did all of them end up drawing the same thing? Aliens. And I think some of them stayed." He lays out even more pictures, these ones of vehicles, old cars, planes, jets. "Robots. In disguise. They've been hiding here all along. We detected radioactive signatures all across the country coming from these guys. I pleaded, on my knees, for S-7 to investigate but they wouldn't listen. Called me obsessed, can you believe it?"

Sunstreaker snorts. "Yes. Yes, I can."

The two of them begin to argue, again, but Ari ignores them as something pulls at her, pulling her eyes to the pictures of the supposed Cybertronians.

"You okay, Ari?" Sideswipe asks in concern and she shushes him as she concentrates.

She can feel one of her doors opening, just a crack, and then there is a flash of recognition. "Seekers," she says, causing Simmons and Sunny to stop mid-sentence and look at her. "They're Seekers. Oldest of the old. They're the ones who came here looking for the energon source. They're the ones we want." She looks up at Simmons. "Do you still know where they are?"

"Uh…," Simmons leafs through his papers until he finds the one he wants. "Ah hah, yeah, here it is. It looks like the closest one is in a museum only a couple of hours from here."

Ari grins. Finally, they're getting somewhere. "Let's get going then."

When they arrive at the museum sometime in the early afternoon Simmons gears up like they're about to infiltrate a terrorist cell. Ari appreciates him being so thorough, even having a contingency plan for if they're caught, but Ari doesn't plan on getting caught. Nothing can go wrong with this because if it does, then they can kiss planet Earth goodbye. So she prays to Primus plan A works: Lina and Simmons going in first, using tasers to take out the guards. Ari, Sides, and Sunny will then go in when the coast is clear.

"Do I really get to taser someone?" Lina asks when Simmons hand her the weapon.

"Yep," Simmons says, making his own taser is functional. "Just make sure you don't tase yourself."

"I won't. I have one just like this back at school. Had it for a couple of years no, you know, just in case. Never gotten a chance to use it yet though." She smiles broadly. "This is gonna be fun."

"You might be right," Sideswipe's holoform says to Ari as they watch Lina and Simmons enter the large building. "She is enjoying this a bit too much."

Ari snorts in amusement. "Still better than her screaming her head off."

A few minutes later Lina pokes her head out the front door with a triumphant grin, waving for them to come inside.

It's an air and space museum, with airplanes, satellites, and moon rovers on display inside the massive museum. But, according to Simmons's file, they are looking for a black jet so they move through the main rooms of the museum, all of which are too small to fit a jet, until they find a hanger containing some of the bigger planes and rockets. Simmons holds one of his scanners, like what he and his men used the night they first met at her house, and it starts to beep more insistently as he moves through the room. Air doesn't need to rely on the scanner though. She can feel it, like a tugging in her chest. There is a Cybertronian in this room. She follows it, Sideswipe's and Sunny's holoforms following behind her, until both she and Simmons stop in front of the huge, black jet they're looking for. The Cybertronian they're looking for.

"This is it," Simmons says, lowering his scanner. "Blackbird. So, you got what we need to wake him up?"

"Do you remember the last time I saw you," Ari says, not looking at him but up at the jet, "and I arrived on base to talk to the Council?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I was there that day to tell them that the AllSpark wasn't destroyed."

"Seriously?" he says, surprise coloring his voice. "Where is it then? I sure don't see some big alien cube."

Ari takes a deep breath. "It's inside of me." She delves into herself, drawing the AllSpark power to the surface. She raises her arms up to the jet, marks glowing and arms sparking. With only the slightest push the sparks reach out to the Cybertronian in front of her, searching out the areas that are keeping him in stasis lock. He hums to life as he comes back online and Ari sees a flash in her mind of this bot's faceplates.

And his glowing red optics.

She drops her arms in horror. "It's a Decepticon!"

They run behind one of the planes as the Decepticon transforms into his bipedal form. He's tall, as tall as Optimus, but he's hunched over like an old man. He even has a can to lean on.

"What sort of heinous mausoleum is this?" the Decepticon yells with hints of a British accent, eying them in their apparently not-so-good hiding spot. He stalks towards them but looks like he's having a bit of trouble walking, leaning heavily on his cane and bumping into the surrounding planes. "Answer me, pawns and knaves. Show yourselves or suffer my infinite wrath."

They step out from behind the plane, hands raised. She can feel the tension in the twins, both itching to transform, unsure what this bot is going to do but she shakes her head at them.

"You little spinal cord-based organisms," he sneers, knocking a space capsule hanging from the ceiling out of the way but it just swings back, knocking into the side of his head. "Oh, bugger off! Behold the eternal glory of Jetfire!"

Ari suppresses a laugh. What is with this guy? He's not very scary for a Decepticon. Jetfire stomps off towards the hanger doors, trying to open them but having much luck. She lowers her arms back down to her sides. "I don't think he's going to hurt us, guys."

Everyone else lowers their arms as well as Jetfire tries to blast the doors open. Instead, a missile shoots out in the opposite direction exploding against a wall.

Sunny shakes his head slowly. "That mech did not age well."

Jetfire gives up and breaks down the doors by ramming it with his shoulder. He bursts through, stumbling a few steps, and then keeps going out into the airfield.

"Sides, Sunny, meet us outside," Ari says. "We'll chase after him."

The holoforms blink out and the humans chase after the runaway Decepticon, yelling at him to wait until he finally stops and turns to them.

"What do you want?" Jetfire snaps.

"We just want to talk," Ari says as if she's talking to a spooked horse.

"I don't have time to talk. I'm on a mission. Now, what planet am I on?"

Mission? Ari licks her lips nervously. Looks like he might know what they need. New she just hast to convince a Decepticon to help them. "This is Earth."

"Earth? Well, at least I'm still on the right planet. Tell me, is that Cybertronian civil war still going on? Who's winning?"

Sides, Sunny, Skids, and Mudflap drive up, transforming into their bipedal forms. Sideswipe looks her over, making sure she's alright, and she nods in reassurance.

"The Decepticons," she tells Jetfire, considering they haven't been doing very well lately.

He spits off to the side. "Well, I changed sides to the Autobots."

"What do you mean, changed sides?" Sideswipe asks.

"It's a choice," Jetfire says indignantly. "It's an intensely personal decision. So much negativity. Who wants to live a life filled with hate? If Decepticons had their way, they'd destroy the whole universe."

"Well," Ari says, "considering the Decepticons are working for the Fallen and the Fallen's sided with Unicron, that's a very real possibility if they win."

Jetfire narrows his optics at her, lowering himself down so his head is more on level with her. "And how do you know about Unicron?"

She can hear Sides shift beside her but she holds a hand up to him. She still doesn't think Jetfire will hurt her. He's just a confused bot who's lost a lot of time and is looking for answers. "That's a bit complicated."

"Enlighten me."

Without a word she holds out her left arm, showing him her marks.

"Jetfire gasps. "Those are…Cybertronian marks! For healing and knowledge and…AllSpark." So many questions burn inside his optics. "What's happened to the AllSpark?"

"A lot has happened, Jetfire," she says with a soft smile. "The Cube was destroyed but the AllSpark was saved. Primus put it inside of me; that's how I know what I know." Jetfire looks a little dubious at that. "I-I'm also the one who brought you back online and I also know about the riddle you came here with. 'When dawn alights the Dagger's Tip-"

"'Three Kings will reveal the doorway,'" he finishes, mouth and optics wide in awe. "By Primus, it's true."

"It is. I was given that riddle so that I could try to stop the Fallen, but that was all I was given. Please, can you tell us more?"

Jetfire's face turns dark. "The Fallen. I know him. He left me here to rust. The original Decepticon. He's terrible to work for. This riddle, it was part of my mission, the Fallen's search. For the key."

"The key? What key?"

"No time to explain." He pulls each of the Autobots closer and bends himself around all of them as the air begins to crackle with energy.

"What's going on?" Ari yells about the building roar.

"Hod on, everybody! Stay still or you'll die!"

There is a bright flash of light and then Ari is flying through the air, tumbling head over heels, until she crashes to the ground on her back, the breath knocked out of her. She groans, felling bruises starting to form in several places as she moves her limbs slowly. Then she stops. Whatever she is lying on, it's soft and gives easily beneath her, shifting every time she moves. It's a familiar feeling. Sand. She's lying on sand. She opens her eyes to a glaring sun. Well. This is certainly a familiar way to wake up to her. But when she sits up and looks around she doesn't recognize any of the mountains and she is completely alone.

Okay, so not a vision of the Primes. Where am I then? And where is everyone else?

She stands, cups her hands around her mouth. "Sideswipe!" Her voice echoes across the desert as she hopes, prays, she didn't end up here alone. "Sideswipe!"

"Ari!" Sideswipe's voice echoes back to her and she quickly stands, eyes scouring. There, walking up the other side of a sand dune, is Sideswipe, Sunstreaker right behind him. The twins have a hard time moving over all this sand so Ari starts running to them, the sand threatening to trip her up, but she doesn't stop until Sideswipe picks her up in his arms.

She wraps her arms around his neck with a sigh of relief. "Thank Primus. I was starting to worry I was alone out here."

"No, it looks like we all made it," Sunstreaker says, pointing into the distance. "Look." A couple of dunes away Lina and Simmons are shouting, waving their arms in the air.

They all got scattered about after the landing but thankfully all in the immediate area. Once they're all together again Jetfire tells them that he opened up a space bridge, transporting them to Egypt. And then he tells them why. The original Primes, the Cybertronians' oldest ancestors, went from planet to planet searching for energon sources in order to perpetuate their race.

"Somewhere buried in this desert," Jetfire says, sounding like an old man telling a story to his grandchildren, "our ancestors built a great machine. It harvests energon by destroying suns. You see, in the beginning, there were seven Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe seeking distant suns to harvest. The Primes set out with one rule: never destroy a planet with life. Until one of them tried to defy this rule. And his name forevermore was the Fallen. He despised the human race and wanted to kill you all by turning on that machine. The only way to activate it is with a legendary key called the Matrix of Leadership."

One of Ari's doors shutters slightly and the AllSpark shows her an image of the Matrix. It's beautiful, like a metal, double-sided dagger with a gentle S-shape and a glowing blue stone encaged in the center. It gives off such a powerful energy. Ari wonders what it is, but Primus is keeping the answer just out of her reach.

"A great battle took place over possession of the Matrix," Jetfire continues. "The Fallen was stronger than his brothers, so they had no choice but to seal and hide it from him. In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their very own bodies, a tomb we cannot find. Somewhere, buried in this desert, that deadly machine remains. The Fallen knows where it is and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, your world will be no more."

"So the riddle doesn't lead to the actual energon source, the machine, but the Matrix?" Ari asks.

Jetfire nods. "That was my mission. It's your mission now."

"But what do we do once we find it? How do we stop the Fallen?"

"Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen."

"A Prime?" she says in surprise. "You mean like Optimus Prime?"

Jetfire's optics light up in delight. "So, you've met a Prime? He must be a great descendant. Is he here, on this planet?"

Ari looks away, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "He sacrificed himself to save me."

He sighs sadly. "Se he's offlined. Without a Prime, it's impossible. No one else can stop the Fallen."

Ari leans her head against Sideswipe's from where she still sits atop his shoulder. She wishes Optimus were still here, and not just to defeat the Fallen. He would know where to start looking for the Matrix. He would be able to get them through this. He would know just what to say to give her the confidence she is so lacking right now.

But…what if he can be here?

She lifts her head up. "The Matrix…if it can be used to reactivate the machine, then could that same energy be used to reactivate Optimus?"

Jetfire scratches his head in thought. "The Matrix's original purpose is known only to the Primes but I do know that it holds an energy like no other."

Hope swells up in her chest and brings a smile to her face. "Alright. Then that's what we'll do. We'll use the riddle to find the Matrix, bring back Optimus, and stop the Fallen once and for all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we got some movie stuff and some changes and next chapter we get some fluff in the mix as well. Not the sort of fluff your hoping for but it's coming. Be patient.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!


	35. Dagger's Tip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back. I'll make this quick. Got some good stuff coming up. Coulson gets to have fun with Galloway, you guys get to see the aft fall out of a plane, get some stuff with Lina, and we have some major fluff that you're actually going to hate me a little bit for. Alright, I'm going to shut up now before the mob gets here. 
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Sometime after dark, Will finally hears some good news in the form of a long distance phone call. How Ari ended up with Simmons of all people, he doesn't know, and honestly, he doesn't care. At least now he knows that his daughter is okay and that she has a plan for stopping the Decepticons.

Though how she plans on bringing Optimus back online, well, he doesn't know that either. Or why they have to go all the way to Egypt.

"How _are_ we going to get to Egypt?" Rob asks as they walk out towards the tarmac where the planes are going through the final prep stages.

"I don't know," Will admits. "It'd be no problem if Galloway wasn't escorting us the entire trip to D.C." Scanning the tarmac, Will finds the person he's looking for standing near the cargo bay of one of the planes, overseeing the loading of the Autobots in their alt modes.

"Major Lennox," Agent Coulson says as they approach, "do we have a plan? I can't delay Galloway for much longer."

"Yes," Will says though he lacks his usual confidence. "Well, maybe an idea of a plan."

Coulson raises on eyebrow at him.

"More like we know where we're going but don't know how we're gonna get there without the extra baggage," Rob supplies.

The corners of Coulson's eyes crinkle slightly in the barest hint of a smile. "You go tell the pilot the new coordinates and alert your men and General Morshower to the change in plan. I'll handle the rest."

Will and Rob go do what they're told, glad at least someone has any idea of what they are doing, but when they go to board the plane with the rest of the N.E.S.T. team Galloway is still there, sitting down on one of the bench seats with the rest of them. Will shoots Coulson a questioning look but the agent just shakes his head almost imperceptibly.

The plane begins its take-off, taxing down the runway and slowly lifting into the air. When they are at cruising altitude Coulson gets out of his seat and goes to sit next to Galloway near the front of the plane. They talk in hushed tones too quiet for Will and Rob to hear and then Galloway bends down to rifle through his briefcase, searching for something. While he isn't looking, Coulson reaches into his suite jacket and pulls something out.

A gun.

"What is Coulson doing?" Will asks in alarm, quickly standing, but before he can take more than a few steps towards them Coulson shoots Galloway in the back of the neck. The soldiers stand in shock, hands going for their own guns while Will and Rob rush to Galloway's side, catching his slumped form before he falls off the bench. Will looks at the agent in anger. "What the Pit, Coulson?"

Coulson slips the gun back beneath his jacket, face as stoic as ever. "Don't worry, Major, he's only unconscious."

Will reaches for Galloway's neck, pulling his shirt collar away from his skin to get a look at the damage. But there isn't…any…blood? All he finds is a welt the size of a quarter. And Galloway is still breathing, his chest moving with slow, easy breaths.

"What did you shoot him with?" Will asks curiously.

"It's called an I.C.E.R.," Coulson says. "Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun. Basically a high-powered tranquilizer that is absorbed through the skin on contact. Should keep him out until we get to Egypt."

"Man," Rob says enviously, "I gotta get me one of those."

* * *

Ari and the others have been in Egypt for a few hours now. Simmons uses his satellite phone to contact an old source of his and finds out that the ancient Sumerians used to call the Gulf of Aqaba, a part of the Red Sea, the "Dagger's Tip." It's exhilarating to finally know what part of the riddle means, but the rest of it is still a mystery. So they drive through the desert towards the Red Sea until they find a village where they get some supplies, like food, and to call Will on a pay phone that won't be traced back to any of them to let him know what's going on. She wishes she could have talked to him, tell her dad for herself that she's okay, but the entire ABCs of government organizations are still looking for her and could be listening. So she allows Simmons to make the call for her.

Near sunset they retreat to the outskirts of the village where, up on a plateau near the base of a pyramid, they find an old building closed for renovations that's styled after ancient architecture but with modern touches like electricity. They stay here for the night, thankfully finding an opening large enough for the Autobots' alt modes to slip through so they can stay hidden. Lina and Simmons find themselves some chairs to rest in for the night while Ari reclines in Sideswipe's passenger seat.

Sleep isn't very forthcoming and then when she does manage to drift off her dreams turn nightmarish, plaguing her with images of Megatron, the Fallen, and Optimus's death. About an hour before sunrise she gives up, quietly exiting Sideswipe's alt mode and making her way up to the roof, climbing out onto one of the scaffolds on the sides of the building. She sits down with her back against a crate looking up at the stars and the world wonder towering over her.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Ari chuckles softly to herself as Sideswipe's holoform sits next to her. She never can slip away from him without him noticing. It's almost he has a sixth sense when it comes to her.

"Can't sleep?" he asks, staring up at the sky with her.

"No," Ari says, barely above a whisper. "I…I'm scared, Sides."

"Hey, hey." Sides wraps his arm around her, drawing her into his side. "It's okay, Ari. Everything's gonna be okay."

She burrows closer, resting her head on his shoulder and an arm across his chest. Here, in Sideswipe's arms, his fingers stroking through her hair, she can pretend that everything really is alright. That they'll be able to find the Matrix in time, revive Optimus, and then defeat the Fallen. That everyone is going to make it through this alive.

That when all of this is over, she can figure out this thing between her and Sideswipe. That she'll have the courage to tell him how she feels and not give up, like the femme Prime encouraged.

Something touches the top of her head feeling strangely like a pair of lips. Sideswipe. Did Sideswipe just kiss her?

Fighting back a blush and trying to act as normal as possible just in case she's wrong, Ari pulls away slightly to look up at his face, her blue eyes searching his. He's giving her such a soft look, the hand that was in her hair moving to stroke the side of her face.

"We're going to make it through this, Ari," Sideswipe says. "And once Optimus is back and the Fallen is gone, you and me are gonna go on a nice, long vacation. Maybe go to one of the beaches in California. See the ocean for the first time. Maybe go visit that astronomy observatory you were talking about a couple of weeks ago with the big telescope where we can see pictures of different stars and galaxies far away from here. It'll be just you, me, and the stars."

The corners of her mouth turn upwards in a small smile. "Have I ever told you how much I love your optimism?"

Sideswipe smirks. "It may have come up before. "His face comes a little bit closer to hers. "Have I ever told you before that you have a beautiful smile?"

"I seem to recall you saying something like that before." She sits up just a little bit straighter, eliminating even more of the distance between them. There's a charged energy between them. Hypnotic. Magnetic. And it's bringing her and Sideswipe closer and closer together. In this moment she may not know for certain what Sideswipe's feelings are, but she knows how she feels. Even though she's scared at being so close to a person, she wants Sideswipe to kiss her here under the stars.

…The stars…

"Wait," she leans back abruptly, mind racing as she's connecting dots together that suddenly make sense. "The stars."

"Yeah," Sideswipe says slowly, confusion and maybe even a little bit of hurt in his eyes. "I said you and me can go see the stars at the observatory when we get back."

"No, not that. The stars. Stars and pyramids." She stands quickly, tugging him with her. "Come on."

Ari practically runs back inside, down the stairs, until she finds Lina and Simmons still knocked out.

"Lina, Simmons. Wake up!" She shakes their shoulders and they both jerk awake with a start.

"What?" Lina says tiredly, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "What time is it?"

Ari waves her off. "Doesn't matter. Do you remember astronomy class? Page 47 of our textbook?"

Lina looks at her blankly. "No, I was only in college for two days. Do you remember _that_?"

"Never mind. Just come with me." Ari leads everyone outside, the three of them very confused but compliant. She points at the sky, more specifically, at a line of three stars stretching towards some distant mountains. "You see those three stars and how the last one touches the horizon? That's Orion's Belt, but it's also called the Three Kings. They're called that because the three Egyptian kings who built the pyramids of Giza built them to mirror those stars." She tilts her head to the side, eyes dancing over the sight of the stars and pyramids coming together in the first rays of dawn. "Almost forms an arrow, or the tip of a dagger, don't you think?"

Sideswipe claps her one the shoulder with a big grin, any traces of the hurt she thought she saw gone and she wonders if she imagined it. "Very nice, Ari."

"They all point due east," Simmons says, "towards Jordan. The mountains of Petra."

* * *

Will is really impressed. Coulson must have had everything timed perfectly because Galloway wakes up just minutes before they make the airdrop point. By now they've all thoroughly been over the plan on how to get rid of the annoying politician and what to do once they get on the ground. Coulson is going to continue on with the plane to get together an extraction for when everything is over.

The question now is, how is all of this going to end?

Galloway is really groggy when he wakes up, wiping at his face tiredly.

"Have a nice nap, sir?" Will asks from where he sits on the opposite bench, a falsely charming smile on his face.

"Yeah," Galloway grumbles, sleep making his voice sound deeper than normal as he cracks his stiff neck. "How far are we to D.C.?"

"We should be arriving at our destination shortly." He then cocks his head to the side in feigned surprise as the pilot tells them over the intercom that the plane is having engine failure and they need to prepare for bailout.

"Bailout?" Galloway asks, his fear plain on his face.

Will stands. "Alright, team, grab your chutes!"

The soldiers do as they're told, including Coulson, and everyone starts strapping on parachutes. Will grabs Galloway and starts putting one on him since Galloway has absolutely no idea what he is doing. Galloway protests every step of the way but when the plane starts shaking a little bit because of turbulence Will fakes being worried. That makes the man shut up. Will then drags him to the back of the plane.

"Wait, wait!" Galloway yells over the rushing wind from the open hatch. "Why don't you have a parachute?"

"Well, I have to secure the V.I.P.s first."

"What about Agent Coulson?"

"You're more important than I am, sir," Coulson says, sounding completely sincere. "And besides, I've done this before."

Will sees Galloway start to give up and give in to the inevitable and Will quickly goes over how to operate the parachute. It's obvious Galloway has no idea what he's saying and when Will says he needs to pull the pin for the main chute real hard, repeating himself to make sure Galloway understands, the man does what he believes Will wants him to do, pulling the pin real hard.

"Not now," Will says as the chute launches out, "we're still on the plane, you dumbaft!"

As the chute gets pulled out of the plane by the wind it takes Galloway with it, Galloway screaming all the way.

"He say goodbye?" Rob asks.

"No, didn't even say goodbye," Will says with mock hurt. He then approaches Coulson, taking the chute the agent is slipping back off. "That was a real ingenious plan, Coulson. I just wish I could be there when he realizes he's in Egypt instead of the U.S."

"You're not the only one, Major." Coulson shakes Will's hand. "Good luck out there today. Beat these guys and bring Ari and the others home. Optimus as well."

* * *

'When dawn alights the Dagger's Tim, Three Kings will reveal the doorway.' They made it to the Dagger's Tip in Egypt and they saw the Three Kings at dawn pointing them in the right direction. Now they just have to find the doorway. But that's easier said than done. It's late morning, the sun almost reaching its highest peak in the sky, and they're still looking through the mountains of Petra for the doorway. Ari knows firsthand how big the Primes are. She would have thought a tomb made from their bodies would be easy to find.

"Is anybody seeing anything?" Ari asks, bending down in her seat in Sideswipe's alt mode to look up at the mountains passing by.

"Just a whole lotta desert and nothing," Lina says beside her. "I thought figuring out the riddle was supposed to be the hard part, not finding the freaking thing."

"Oh, we haven't even gotten to the hard part. The hard part will be facing the Fallen."

"I thought your friend Optimus was gonna be handling that part?" Lina says hopefully.

Ari sighs, casting Lina a worried look. "It's never that easy. The Fallen won't be alone. Sure, we have the Autobots on our side, but they'll need all the help they can get."

Lina shifts in her seat uncomfortably. "So, you said you were right in the middle of all the stuff that happened in Mission City, right? How bad…was it exactly? Compared to the news reports?"

"You should know better than anyone that the news never tells the truth. At least, not the whole truth. They toned down a lot of the destruction." Her fingers skim over her AllSpark marks absentmindedly. "It was bad. Real bad. If the news reports had been truthful, then there would have been a lot of panic. And that's with everyone believing it was terrorists instead of aliens."

"But you can't hide the truth from everyone." Lina crosses her arms in front of her chest defiantly. "I mean, people deserve to know what really happened."

"Like I said, people would have panicked if they knew the truth. Just look at how you reacted, then multiply that by billions of people. It would have been chaos. But we did it for more than just protecting the people. We did it to protect the Autobots."

That catches Lina by surprise. "What do you mean?"

"If people knew the truth they wouldn't see Autobots and Decepticons, good guys and bad guys. They would just see aliens and the death and destruction left in their wake." Ari looks at her pleadingly, wishing for her to understand. "Look, you are right, people do have the right to know that aliens are now living on our planet, but it needs to be done in the right way at the right time or else the Autobots are going to be the ones paying the consequences."

Lina looks away, a little bit of doubt and uncertainty now clouding her eyes. Ari understands where Lina is coming from. Lying can break trust, turn people against each other, and topple entire governments if the web becomes so tangled and then is discovered. It's why she was truthful with the Council, with Sarah after she was adopted, and with Lina and Simmons when they got pulled into this. But she hopes Lina can understand where she is coming from too. Sometimes telling the truth is more harmful than a thousand lies.

"Uh, guys?" Sideswipe says through the radio. "I think I see something."

In the side of the mountain up ahead is a building carved out of the stone looking like an Egyptian temple with a gaping door Optimus would easily walk through. This is it. It has to be. The doorway. The Autobots transform and they all head inside to find…nothing. Not a fragging thing. There's a small mural on one wall but other than that the building is a small, empty room with no other doorways leading anywhere else.

_This can't be it. The riddle led us here so it has to be here._

Ari can hear an argument break out behind her but she ignores it as her eyes search the empty space like she's looking for a snack in the refrigerator, wishing for something to miraculously appear even though she knows nothing is there. It's not until Sideswipe picks her up out of the way of the tumbling Skids and Mudflap that she realizes how far it's escalated, and thankfully Sunstreaker picks up the two smaller twins and throws them outside before she can give them a piece of her mind.

Then she notices a hole in the mural the twins made in their scuffle, revealing metal that should not be here in ruins this ancient if it were human made. But it's not. She can see the Cybertronian symbols carved into it even from where Sideswipe holds her.

She points to the hole excitedly. "Sideswipe, there! Blast it!"

One of Sideswipe's guns pops out of the forearm not holding her and he shoots at the metal, creating a hole through it. Air blows into the hole, the draft indicating there must be some sort of cavern inside. Sides lowers Ari to the ground and she leads Lina and Simmons inside.

"Oh, wow," she whispers. It's just like Jetfire said. A tomb made from the Primes' bodies, a cluster of limbs all tangled together creating a small cave. She stares up at the faceplates of these bots, faceplates that she recognizes from her visions. It's odd seeing the Primes like this. So cold and empty. After seeing them through the AllSpark, she almost forgot that they were all offlined a long time ago. And now she knows how, that they gave up their lives to protect the Matrix.

The Matrix that now sits in one of the Primes' hands.

At last, they've found it, the answer to the riddle, the key to the sun harvester, Optimus's salvation. But before the grin can split her face as she just barely touches it, the Matrix dissolves into dust, slipping through her fingers and creating a small pile in the Prime's palm.

"No," she whispers, wishing this was just one of her nightmares. But the dust in her hands feels very real.

"Thousands of years, turned to dust," Simmons says, his own disappointment heavy in his voice.

Ari shakes her head, not wanting to believe it. "But this can't be. I thought the Matrix was just like the Cube, able to withstand anything."

"Nothing's indestructible, kid. You even proved that with the Cube yourself."

Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's holoforms appear right in the middle of their group, causing Lina to let out a small scream of fright. "Hey, guys," Sideswipe says, "is it time to start celebrating?"

Lina punches Sides in the arm what she probably considers hard, but Sideswipe just looks at her as if she tapped him on the shoulder. "Don't do that!" she yells.

Sunstreaker growls at Lina slightly, picking her up by the collar of her shirt and shoving her back a few feet causing her to stumble a little. "Don't do that," he threatens.

Lina smooths her shirt out, looking slightly flustered. "You guys scared the crap out of me! And I may still find you cute despite everything but that does not mean I won't pop you in that pretty face of yours."

Sunny grins deviously. "You can try, Fleshy."

"Guys, guys!" Simmons yells, getting between the two. "Now is not the time! If you haven't noticed, we're having a bit of a crisis here."

Sideswipe approaches Ari worriedly, seeing the despair and disappointment practically radiating off of her. "What happened?'

Ari looks at the dust sadly. "The Matrix, when I touched it, it just…crumpled. Does…does it mean I failed? Did I fail Primus's test?"

"Of course not," Sideswipe says as he pulls her into a hug, arms wrapping around her tightly. "You solved the riddle, we found the Matrix before the Fallen did. Primus wouldn't have led us all this way just for things to end like this."

"Then what do we do?" she asks, face pressed into his chest.

"We don't give up," Lina says, and Sideswipe and Ari separate to look at her. She looks about ready to go to war. "The Fallen plans on killing us all if we don't stop him and he doesn't seem like the type to just give up because he doesn't have the key to his little machine. Hardly no one is the world knows that this could be their last day on Earth because of this guy and I don't plan on letting them find that out the hard way. Now, you said that this Primus guy always knows what he's doing. Are we just gonna give up on that too?"

A small smile grows on Ari's face. "No. Lina's right. We ended up here for a reason." She bends down, takes a shoe and a sock off one foot, slips the shoe back on, and begins shoveling the Matrix dust into her sock. "Everyone's been after me because of what I know. And I know that this is going to work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun having Coulson have fun. And yay for more Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. references! Yeah, but I'm still not doing the stuff that happened in that series or any of the other characters. I love that series but sorry, guys. I want Coulson to end up in a different place.
> 
> And, yeah, you hate me for the almost kiss, don't you. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. *evil smile*
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	36. When All of This is Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I have so many feelings for this chapter, I don't even know where to begin. At one point when writing this I even almost made myself cry. I may be a little biased, but I hope that means I did a good job. Cause this is the end, my friends, the end of RotF, and we all know what bad thing happens to Sam during this. But there is one thing to look forward to, and I'm not talking about Optimus's resurrection, even though that's good, too.
> 
> It's the moment you've all been waiting for. Time to reap the rewards.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

With the Matrix dust tied up in Ari's sock they head towards the coordinates Simmons gave the soldiers. They hear their plane as they were leaving the tomb so they know Will and the others are almost there. And it's confirmed when they see a flare explode in the sky when they start to get close. Some of the tension that's been coiling inside Ari's body releases a little bit. Her dad and his men and the Autobots are at that flare. Optimus is at that flare. If they can just get there, then everything will be alright.

But then a jet flies by right over top of them. As it circles back around Ari can see what jet it is. Starscream. He fires at them, missiles exploding on the ground around them as the Autobots dodge and swerve. Ari and Lina share a worried glance as they cling to their seats. Ari can see Lina is trying very hard not to freak out, fear shining in her eyes, but she's staying strong. Ari takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. They both need to stay strong if they're going to survive this. After a few minutes the explosions stop and Starscream moves on, off towards the village in the distance.

"We're not going to make it," Ari says as she watches him fly off, "not if the Decepticons are here. We need a distraction."

They come across a construction site a couple of miles out from the village they're going towards and Ari tells Sideswipe to stop. He does, the others stopping behind him, and Ari and Lina get out, Simmons getting out of Skids.

"That was insane!" Simmons says. "What are we gonna do?"

"We're going to split up," Ari says. "You and Lina go with Skids and Mudflap. I'll go with Sides and Sunny."

Lina shakes her head furiously. "No, I'm going with you! We're roommates. We gotta stick together."

Ari smiles. That's something that a friend would say. "Lina, you can't come with me. The AllSpark made me faster than most people and I need to put that speed to the test now. I'll be in the most danger and I can't be worrying about you."

Lina just stares at her for a minute and then flings herself at Ari in a crushing hug. "Be safe, roomie."

"You, too," Ari says as she hugs her back and then she's pulling away, going over to Sides and Sunny. She nods to Simmons. "You be careful, too, Simmons."

He shrugs one shoulder, smiling confidently. "Ah, don't you worry about me. We'll make a diversion. You just get to those soldiers. I hope that dust works, kid."

"Thank you," Ari says, something she thought she'd never have to say to the agent responsible for Sideswipe getting captured and tortured. But she is grateful to him.

"They'll be alright, Ari," Sides says as Lina and Simmons get into Skid's alt mode. "And we've got your back."

She strokes the hood of his alt mode. "I know you do."

And then she's running towards where she saw the flare, Sides and Sunny speeding ahead of her. It's a long run, she's still several miles away, and it makes her grateful Ironhide and Chromia have put her through such rigorous training. Still, her legs start to ache not long into the run but she pushes herself to keep going. She just has to make it to her dad.

When she reaches the top of a hill she pauses. Down below is a village much smaller than the one they visited the day before, the houses looking like ruins themselves, but these are people's homes down there. Homes that are probably fixing to get destroyed soon. Ari's heart clenches. But there's no other way. On the far side of the village she can see another flare going up, the small figures of soldiers and the Autobots surrounding what must be Optimus's body covered by a tarp. She has to go through the village to get to them. So she keeps going, not slowing down again until she is surrounded by the buildings and pillars. Something roars by overhead and she looks up to see a meteor zoom by to crash down in the middle of the village, followed by several others. But they're not meteors. They're Cybertronians in pod form. Decepticons here to find her and kill anyone who gets in their way.

With the 'Cons starting to comb the village she ducks inside a house, pressing herself against one of the clay brick walls as the sound of Cybertronian feet get closer and a large shadow passes over the house. Ari picks up a fire poker, uses it to poke a hole in a weak part of the clay, and then peaks out. Her breath shudders as it leaves her lungs. There are _so many_ Decepticons out there.

A bug flies through the hole and she leans back, picking the bug up to get it out of the hole. But when she feels metal between her thumb and forefinger she holds it closer to her face to get a better look. _Oh, frag, it's an insecticon._ She quickly squishes the bug but it's too late. They know where she is. The roof is torn off of the house and Starscream reaches in trying to grab her. Ari runs out the door, down a narrow alley, and up some stairs leading to the rooftops. Starscream fires at her and she jumps onto the next roof, explosions right behind her. When she hits the roof she goes into a tumble to ease the fall and ends up sliding off the slanted roof into the alley below. Deciding down here is a whole lot better than up there she gets up and runs. After a couple of turns she stops for a moment and looks back. Looks like she lost time for now, probably lured away by Sides and Sunny.

Gunfire causes Ari to turn back around and she can see the soldiers and Autobots fighting even more Decepticons but they have no idea where she is. Figuring she has nothing else left to lose, she pushes the red button on her pendant. Maybe Soundwave will be able to trace the signal and tell the Decepticons where she is, maybe not. Either way, she's not making it without a little help.

It's not long until she finds out. She's sliding down a dune when Ravage speeds towards her out of nowhere from the left. She pushes herself to run faster, Ravage hot on her heels. Right towards an awaiting bulldozer that transforms in front of her into a 'Con with a serpent-like tail instead of legs and the tread bands of his wheels hang like whips from his hands. He fires a warning shot at her feet and she skids to a stop, hands raised.

_What do I do? What do I do?_

The 'Con flings one of his whips at her and she flinches as it hits the building behind her. Slowly she pulls the sock filled with the Matrix dust out of her pocket but she doesn't let it go. She can't. She can't.

A whistle sounds from her right and she looks over to see Sideswipe peeking out from behind a building. She quickly faces the 'Con again, heart racing, as she holds the sock out in front of her.

"This is what you want, isn't it?' she says, keeping attention on her. Sunstreaker climbs on top of the building behind the 'Con. "I've got what you want right here."

Sunny launches himself onto the back of the Decepticon and Ari quickly backs away into the doorway of one of the surrounding buildings. The two bots fight, Sunny clearly having the advantage, when Ravage pounces out of nowhere. Sideswipe grabs the feline bot out of midair and together the twins quickly dispatch the two 'Cons. Ari has to admit, as she approaches Ravage's decimated body, that it feels good to see that bot's optics offlined.

"You alright, Ari?" Sideswipe asks as his blades retract.

"Yeah," she says, "just don't cut it so close next time."

"Sorry, we got a little tied up back there. You ready for the final sprint?"

"Yeah. Let's go for it." She takes off running, the twins skating at her sides reminding her so much of Mission City as they fire on any 'Cons who see them.

"Ari!" a voice calls out and Ironhide rounds a corner followed by the triplets.

She grins. "Ironhide!"

Chromia wheels up to her. "Follow us, Ari. We'll take you to Optimus."

Suddenly there are more explosions as Decepticons fall upon them once more and Ari runs with Ironhide's words to run towards the pillars following behind her and five Autobots guarding her back. She dodges debris, she dodges 'Cons, she dodges gun blasts, until finally, _finally_ , she spots the soldiers and remaining Autobots, including a familiar face she's been missing since she left home.

"Dad!"

Will is crouched behind a corner of broken building, Rob right next to him, and he orders everyone to lay down cover fire for her. Ari's feet fly across the sand until she is grabbing Will's outstretched hand, pulling her behind the broken wall with him and into a hug. Ari clings to his embrace as she gulps down air, her head pressed to his shoulder.

"I got yah, kid," Will says, squeezing her tight. "I got yah."

"What?" Rob says. "When did we progress to hugging? I want a hug!"

Ari laughs but, since Rob is like family to her, she gives him a hug as well. "It's so good to see you guys," she says as she pulls away. "Where's Optimus?"

Will points to his right. "He's right over there, across the courtyard."

Ari looks to where he's pointing, seeing that she still has a little ways to go, then looks back out at the Decepticons. That's when she sees the biggest bot she's ever seen hanging on top of the pyramid and sucking the stone away with its gigantic mouth, revealing a machine underneath. The sun harvester. When that's uncovered, all the Fallen will need is the Matrix. And the Fallen is close. She can feel it. "I need to get to Optimus right now."

Will gives her a stern look. "Not with an air strike coming, you're not."

"No, you don't understand. I have to get to him before the Fallen gets here and finds me."

Will motions for everyone to be quiet and they press themselves to the broken wall as a Decepticon approaches right on the other side, transforming into a massive cannon to shoot at the soldiers' tanks. They can't move without the 'Con noticing them.

"Behold the glory of Jetfire!" Jetfire comes running up the the 'Con, knocking him away from them and then looking down at them. "Now let me show you how we brought the pain in my day!"

Jetfire makes quick work of the Con, using his cane as a weapon, but then Scorponok jumps out of the sand and into Jetfire's stomach, burrowing a good ways inside before Jetfire manages to yank him out. He falls to the ground, energon spilling from his mouth. Ari wants to run to help him but there's not time. There's not time. Will and Rob are already pulling her to stand and they run to get out of the blast radius of the air strike. Missiles rain down as the jet flies by overhead. Ari sees Optimus and she makes a break for it before Will and Rob can stop her.

"Girl," a voice says behind her, Megatron's voice, "die!"

Ari's eyes widen. She hears Megatron fire. Feels the burning pain as she flies through the air. She crashes to the ground and then there's nothing but darkness.

* * *

Sideswipe is running from the air strike with his brother, running towards Ari, when he sees it. Megatron shoots at her. She falls. Doesn't get back up. Doesn't even move. His spark fills with so much emotion, the foremost being a searing white pain, and without even thinking he and Sunny are firing on Megatron, pushing him back, both roaring with the pain they both feel because of the bond. Sideswipe rushes to Ari, dropping to his knees next to her and gingerly picking her up in his hands. Her eyes are closed. Her chest unmoving. He may not be a med bot, but even Sideswipe's scanners are enough to tell him she's offlined. She's dead. His Ari, his beautiful, smart, kind, loving Ari, is gone. Something breaks inside him and he carefully places her back on the ground before his despair causes him to lose control and he accidentally breaks her.

But he can't break her any more because she's dead.

Sideswipe sits completely unmoving as Will and some human medics try to revive her but it's too late.

It's too late to take her to see the ocean for the first time. It's too late to stargaze with her, too late to pull another prank with her. It's too late to see her smile just one more time.

It's too late to tell her how he feels, but he has to. He has to. Because if he doesn't he may just die with her, even though he always knew this day would come. He just didn't think it'd be because he failed her.

When the humans finally give up Sideswipe reaches out to stroke the side of her face, from her temple to her jaw. "I love you," he whispers, all of the pain he's feeling now and everything he's ever felt for her pulled into those three simple words. "I love you."

* * *

The sun beats down on Ari, piercing through her eyelids, and she opens them to see a desert she's seen before and very familiar to the one she just left. If this is heaven it definitely isn't what she was expecting. She gets up and walks towards the mountains, just like she always does, and, just like they always do, the Primes step forward.

"What happened?" she asks them. "Am I dead?"

The Prime at the head of the group chuckles. "No, Ari, you are not. At least, not completely."

Well, that's comforting. Sort of. Cause she certainly remembers getting shot at. "Then why am I here?"

"Because you have passed Primus's test. You have fought for Optimus, our last descendant, with courage and with sacrifice, the virtues of a leader. A leader worthy of our secret: The Matrix of Leadership is not found, it is earned. The Matrix is more than just a power source, just as you suspected. It is a connection to the Well of Sparks, where all Cybertronian sparks that ever were, are, and will be come from and one day return to. Combine the Matrix with the AllSpark inside of you to save Optimus. It will grant you the power to grant him his life back. And to grant new life as well."

"Wait, does that mean I-I can make new sparklings? I can help continue the Cybertronian race?"

"Yes, but Primus has one condition for giving you this power: Do not make new life until after the war is over." He shakes he head sadly. "No sparkliing should be brought into the world when it is filled with such destruction as this."

"But one day I will be able to?" Ari asks hopefully. "One day this war will be over?"

He smiles a knowing smile. "Only time will tell. Now go, back to Optimus."

"Wait, just one more moment," the femme Prime says quickly, kneeling down in front of Ari. "There is something Primus wishes for you to see." She activates a hologram that shines out from her optics, depicting a scene that makes Ari's face drain of a little color. She can see herself, looking very dead despite the Prime's reassurances, and Sideswipe is kneeling beside her. Everyone, her dad, Rob, the other soldiers, the Autobots, even Sunny standing behind his brother, look distraught with her apparent death. Especially Sideswipe. She's never seen him look so broken, net even when he was literally so broken he almost offlined. He reaches out to her, stroking the side of her face in a familiar trail that she can almost actually feel.

And then he whispers, "I love you…I love you."

Ari gasps, covering her mouth with her hand as her tear-rimmed eyes dart to the femme, wanting to ask her if this is real but unable to find her voice.

The femme just smiles softly. "Go to him."

* * *

Ari awakes with a huge gasp as her lungs start working again and her eyes fly open. Quickly sitting up, she is instantly surrounded by Will and Rob, tear stains on their faces, making sure she is, indeed, alive, but then she's snatched away from them by Sideswipe. He lifts her up and she wraps her arms around his neck as he presses his faceplates to the top of her head. She almost died. She almost left him and he almost left her a couple of weeks ago and she almost let that all that happen without her feelings being out in the open. And his feelings. He has feelings for her as well. She was always so scared of telling him how she feels because of all the reasons they can't be together but she's fragging tired of it. She can't go through all this again. Especially now that she knows the truth.

"I love you," she whispers.

Sideswipe holds her away from him a little bit, just far enough so he can see her face. His optics search her eyes hopefully. "Say it again."

She lifts a hand to cup the side of his face. "I love you, Sideswipe."

The brightest grin she has ever seen spreads across his face. "I love you too, Ari."

With a deep, happy sigh she presses her forehead to his. "When all of this is over you're going to take me on that trip you promised me, just the two of us, and we'll have a chance to dive right into this. But right now there is a world o save."

"Yeah," Sideswipe says softly. "Sounds like a plan."

"And I know just where to start." She holds up her hand between them, the one clutching the newly-reformed Matrix.

Sideswipe moves to place Ari on Optimus's chassis and she sits down on her knees with the Matrix held in front of her. Then she touches one of the metal tips to her AllSpark mark. A sharp pain shoots through her as all of her limbs lock up and the mark glows blindingly bright. The Matrix dissolves again, this time into her skin, and a new mark begins to grow beneath her knowledge mark, the Cybertronian symbol for life.

When the process is complete Ari leans forward with a gasp, breathing hard. Her heart is pounding, like she just got shot with adrenalin. So much more energy is coursing through her veins now. She can feel it, all those sparks in the Well of Sparks, they're right at the edge of her consciousness to where she can almost hear them whispering to her.

And there is one voice louder than all the rest.

She grabs onto it, to Optimus's voice, and the life mark begins to glow, her arms spark, just like they do when she's healing someone, but there's so much more power behind it now. Pressing her hands to Optimus's chassis, she pushes the power down her arms and into him, his spark flowing with it to return to its rightful place. When it is done his spark chamber glows anew, his body humming with new life, and Ari clambers down as Optimus's optics come back online. He coughs, sitting up, weakly but blessedly alive. She grins at him and starts to say something, but then she's whisked off the ground and flying through the air. She screams as the wind whips by and she watches the others get smaller and smaller, Sideswipe's optics filled with fear. It's not until she's on top of the pyramid next to the sun harvester that she's able to see that it's the Fallen's hand gripping her tightly to the point of pain, Megatron standing next to him.

"My Matrix!" the Fallen growls at her. "You've taken it from me. But I can still sense its power inside of you. Perhaps you can still be useful."

He holds her close to the center of the machine and her body begins sparking again, energy flowing out of her and into the sun harvester just like what happened when Starscream used her to power an AllSpark shard. She rapidly starts to feel drained, her muscles losing strength and turning limp. But the machine powers to life. When it is finished the Fallen tosses her aside and she lands on the pyramid a couple of steps below them, probably the only way she doesn't end up with something broken being because the AllSpark made her stronger.

"Why just throw the insect away?" Megatron asks. "The human holds the power of the AllSpark and now the Matrix."

"All humans are about to be exterminated," the Fallen replies. "She will die along with the rest of them and will be unable to survive in space. Her fleshy human body makes her useless to me."

Since they seem no longer interested in her Ari concentrates on getting her body moving again. This drain isn't quite as bad as last time. She's still got some of that adrenalin rush in her from absorbing the Matrix. Still, it's a chore just to sit up, let alone make it all the way down the pyramid before Megatron decides to kill her himself like he promised to do a few days ago. But she gets herself moving, one slow step at a time. Going down the pyramid isn't as hard as she thought it would be but that may just be because she's basically falling down each step.

When she's just reaching the bottom a bot flies by overhead. Optimus, she realizes with a start, flying with wings that she recognizes. Jetfire's wings. As Optimus flies by he takes out the top of the machine, effectively destroying it for good. The Fallen and Megatron then attack Optimus, the battle falling into the village where she can't see. But when she hears a familiar engine she doesn't care anymore. She knows Optimus will be okay.

Sideswipe's alt mode speeds towards her across the sand, not even slowing down as he transforms and he's picking her up into his arms, holding her as tightly as he dares to his chassis.

Ari presses herself to his shoulder with a contented sigh. "Is everyone alright? Do I need to heal anyone?

"I think everyone is mostly okay," Sides says, "except for me. You're going to give me a spark attack if you keep doing stuff like this, especially twice in the same hour."

Ari lets out a weak chuckle. "Sorry. I don't do it on purpose, I swear. "But, seriously, is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, except for Jetfire," Sideswipe says somberly. "He gave his life so Optimus could have his parts and the power to stop the Fallen."

Ari instantly thinks about what she needs to do in order to fix the older bot and then revive him, despite her weariness, but a voice whispers out of one of her doors, a new door connecting her to the Well of Sparks, telling her that it's better this way. She sighs sadly but lets it be. From what she can feel, he's finally at peace.

"It's over," Sideswipe says after a few moments and they start heading back towards the others. "Optimus offlined the Fallen. Megatron and Starscream got away though."

"Another problem for another day," she mumbles tiredly as she closes her eyes. "Now that the excitement is over, do you think it's safe for me to take a nap?"

Sideswipe strokes her head gently. "Go right ahead, sweetspark."

"You won't let me go, right?"

"Never."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"'Kay." Ari snuggles closer as her mind starts to slip into unconsciousness. "Love you, Sides."

"Love you too, Ari."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words cannot begin to express everything I am felt when writing that scene, finally bringing those two together. Do you have any idea how long I had been wanting to write that scene? I hope you guys liked it and it was worth the wait.
> 
> Next chapter will be in two weeks with the aftermath of this little adventure. And fluff, can't forget the fluff.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	37. Catching a Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter certainly took me places I didn't expect it to. A Marvel character I didn't plan on incorporating yet just knocked on my door and demanded, "You will introduce me now." I decided not to argue with the master assassin. Let me know what you guys think.

Ari wakes to the smell of sea salt and the feeling of large fingers threading through her hair starting at the top of her head and following the strands down to where they end in the middle of her back. She can't help the small smile that tugs at her lips but gives no other indication that she's awake. She wants to bask in this moment just a little bit longer. Sideswipe is still holding her, just like he promised he would. So long as that promise wasn't a dream, that is. And everything else. Her telling him how she feels. Him saying he feels the same. It always seemed like something that would only happen in her dreams. An impossible dream. An impossible relationship that all the logic in the AllSpark tells her they shouldn't want and shouldn't be able to have.

Yet here they are.

A cool breeze passes over Ari and she shivers, shifting closer to the warmth of Sideswipe's spark. Only to let out a groan of pain as the movement makes her aware of her sore muscles.

"Ari? What's wrong?" Sideswipe asks.

She opens her eyes to look up into his worried faceplates. "I ache _everywhere_. Like Chromia beat the training mat with my body."

"Do you want me to take you to Ratchet? I wouldn't hand you over to him earlier because I promised but…was I wrong?"

"No, no," she pats his chassis reassuringly. "I wouldn't have wanted you to. Besides, this is nothing a little food, water, and rest won't cure."

"If you don't mind, youngling, I'll be the judge of that." Sideswipe and Ari both look up to see Ratchet standing over them. He holds out a hand expectantly. "Are you Chief Medical Officer?"

"No, you are," Ari huffs, sounding very much like a child being denied a toy but gives Sideswipe a resigned nod. He sighs as he stands from where he had been sitting cross-legged on the floor and places her on Ratchet's waiting palm. Instantly, she misses his touch.

She does finally get a good look around though. And almost doesn't notice Ratchet beginning to scan her body. They're on a ship, a huge military ship with jets parked on the deck, and a huge expanse of water stretching out everywhere she looks, connecting with the setting sun on the horizon. Another breeze brings with it the salty tang of the ocean. "Where are we?" she asks in awe, having never seen anything like this before. The fields and pastures surrounding the farmhouse seemed large to her before, but this, the water seems to gently roll on forever.

"Currently, we are in the Atlantic Ocean," Ratchet says as he goes over his results, "aboard a Navy aircraft carrier that's taking us back to the United States."

Ratchet allows Sides to take her back and he places her on his shoulder. "Told you I'd take you to see the ocean," Sideswipe says.

"Hey, you told me you'd take me to a beach on the Pacific Ocean." She leans against his head as she watches the last few rays of sunshine fall beneath the water, taking with it the beautiful shades of red and orange that had been cast along the waves to plunge them in shadow until the lights on deck turn on one by one. "But this is still beautiful."

"Yes," Ratchet says, looking out over the water as well, "it never ceases to amaze me the amount of beauty this planet can exhibit." He then gives her a stern look. "But right now there are people on this ship who care less about the scenery and more about how a certain human femme is doing."

She ducks her head sheepishly. "How much did I worry them?"

"A whole fragging lot!" Will stands at Sideswipe's feet, hands on his hips, with the strictest face she has ever seen on him. "Get down here right now, young lady!"

Oh, yes, Will is in severe father mode. Are instantly has Sideswipe set her down. Her legs protest at having to stand and she moves a little gingerly, but she still does as she's told. Will isn't nearly as scary as Ron, he'd never try to be, but she's not about to defy him now. Considering everything that's happened the past couple of days, she probably deserves the lecture he's got planned.

Will just stares at her for a few moments, letting her squirm, and then says, "You alright, kid?"

"Yeah," she says. "I'm fine."

Will looks at Ratchet questioningly and Ari suppresses an eye roll.

"She is functioning normally," Ratchet says. "My diagnosis is that she simply needs to refuel and recharge."

_Told you so._

"So you really are okay?" Will asks her. "After waking up Optimus and turning on that machine and almost…." His Adam's-apple bobs as he swallows but she already knows the word caught in his throat.

"I'm okay," she says quietly. "I really am okay."

Will lets out a relieved sigh and then pulls her into a hug so tight she feels like she'll be smothered alive. Her sore muscles cry out in pain a little more but she doesn't care. She hugs him back just as hard.

"I love you, kiddo," he whispers against the top of her head, his voice sounding thick. The thought of Will crying sounds so odd to her. He's the strong one. The one who perseveres when all others tremble. He's not supposed to cry. Yet she saw tears on his face when she woke from the dead and he sounds close to crying again now. She caused this man to come to his breaking point. He cares about her that much. It makes her cling to him a little tighter.

"I love you too, dad."

Will pulls back, holding her face between his hands, and she can see those tears shining in his eyes even though she can tell he's trying to hold them back. "If you ever do that to me again I'm gonna drag your aft back so I can ground you for eternity, do you understand?"

She lets out a little laugh, her own voice sounding a bit thick. "Yeah, I got it."

"If she does it again?" Rob says, coming up to stand beside them followed by Lina, Simmons, and the rest of the Autobots. "Man, just ground her now. That way we don't have to risk it."

"Hey!" Ari shoves Rob's shoulder playfully. "It's not like I seek out trouble. It just kind of follows me."

"Well, tell it to stop," Lina says with a wry smile. "I haven't even had a chance to chase you away myself yet, roomie."

Ari chuckles. "You mean I haven't scared _you_ off yet?"

"Oh, well, you know," Lina gives a light-hearted shrug. "Once you drink the Kool-Aid there's no going back."

Simmons shakes his head. "Bunch of crazy chicks."

"What matters now is that she is safe," Optimus says.

Ari's eyes light up when she sees him. Optimus looks brand new now, optics glowing blue and no gaping stab wound in this chassis. She walks up to him and he kneels down on the deck in front of her. "We're _all_ safe now. And you are good now, right, Optimus?"

"Yes, I am doing well. All thanks to you. Thank you, Ari, for saving my life."

"Thank you for believing in me." She wraps her arms around his faceplates and one of his large hands presses into her back, holding her in return. Optimus has always believed in her, ever since they first met. Even in the moments before his death. Even when it's hard to believe in herself. He is there for her just as she will always be there for him, no matter the personal cost.

When she pulls away from Optimus a jacket is placed on her shoulders from behind, a black suit jacket, that covers the goosebumps slowly spreading across her skin and protects her from the sea breeze. Coulson steps up beside her in his collard white shirt and black tie, his jacket now around her shoulders, and she pulls it tighter gratefully.

"We all believe in you, Ari," he says. "We always have. And we may need to rely on you again."

Her brow furrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The N.E.S.T. team and I weren't exactly…sanctioned to follow you to Egypt. We had to get a bit creative."

"Creative how?"

Will and Rob look away awkwardly, like two little boys caught with their hands in the cookie jar, while Coulson just looks stoic as usual but still doesn't say anything.

"What?" she asks, starting to get worried. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

Coulson lets out a slow breath. "We tricked Galloway into falling out of a plane."

Ari's jaw drops. They can't be serious.

"After he woke up from Coulson drugging him," Rob says.

Okay, they sound a little bit serious.

"He had a parachute," Will quickly adds. "But we did kind of just leave him there, now that I think about it."

She drags a hand over her face. Holy frag, they're serious. "So, Coulson drugged Galloway and then you tricked him to fall out of a plane but he had a parachute?"

Coulson nods. "Pretty much."

_Okay, Ari, calm. Just stay calm._ "Why?"

"We were ordered to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters," Will says, jaw clenching and anger storming in his eyes. There's more to that story but he doesn't seem willing to tell.

"We've been ordered there now," Coulson says. "Again. That's where we're headed. And we need to do some serious damage control with the Council. They aren't exactly happy we disobeyed orders." He places a hand on Ari's shoulder and squeezes gently. "Looks like you may have to perform the duties of Autobot Ambassador earlier than you thought."

Ari's stomach turns to knots. Become the Autobot Ambassador earlier than she thought? He wants her to face the Council now? But she has no training. She was only at college for two days. And Coulson hasn't had a chance to teach her anything; he should be handling this.

But they said they believe in her.

"Alright, alright, enough with the depressing talk," Sunstreaker says, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "We have things to celebrate."

"Yes, we must celebrate Optimus's return," Chromia says happily.

"Uh, no, I don't mean that." He shoots an apologetic look to Optimus. "No offense."

"It's alright," Optimus says. "But what is it you are so happy about?"

Sunny grins. "Our two little lovebirds finally took the plunge."

Rob looks quickly between Sideswipe and Ari. Her face is bright red and Sides is looking awkwardly at his wheels. "Are you serious?" Rob asks her in happy surprise. "Is that what you two were whispering about when you woke up?"

Ari covers her warm face with her hands. _Oh, Primus, this is so embarrassing. Did everyone really know about us before we did?_

Will wraps an arm around her shoulders and she peeks out at him between her fingers. "Come on, guys," he says with an amused smile, "give 'em a break. But it did take you long enough. And you," he points an accusing finger at Sideswipe, "you hurt my daughter in any way, there _will_ be consequences."

Sideswipe laughs, squatting down. "Don't worry, Will," he says, voice completely sincere. "I swear to Primus that I will never hurt Ari."

Ari lowers her hands slowly, looking up at Sideswipe with a warm fluttering in her chest.

Sideswipe holds out a hand to her. "I _swear_ I will make you happy."

With a huge grin she takes his hand and he lifts her up, holding her close with her hands on his shoulders. "We'll make each other happy. Whatever happens, we're in this together."

* * *

They celebrate into the wee hours of the morning, N.E.S.T. soldiers and Navy sailors happily joining them. They blare music out of the ship speakers and dance all around the deck. Ari dances with Will, Rob, the Autobots' holoforms, even with Sideswipe's real form though she's just basically along for the ride for that one. She tries to make Coulson dance but he just gives her an amused smile and politely declines. She also dances with some of the soldiers, the ones who risked their lives for her so many times now. She can't thank them enough for what they've done for her. And it's nice to let loose for a while. There's so much euphoria in the air, from their victory in Egypt to Ari's and Sides's relationship, to Optimus's revival. And there's also uncertainty. The N.E.S.T. soldiers, they could all be fired for disobeying orders, especially with the kind of pull Galloway has. And if N.E.S.T. is gone, then there's no telling what will happen to the Autobots. So the party isn't just to celebrate the past. It's to try to not worry about the future. But putting off the inevitable can only last for so long.

They make port in Virginia the next day and say goodbye to the Navy sailors, from there driving to D.C. with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents showing up with extra S.U.V.s for the soldiers. The drive is only a couple of hours and by the afternoon they make it into the city. Ari tries to see as much of it as possible but only ever catches brief glimpses of famous places and monuments. S.H.I.E.L.D. corrals them straight to their D.C. headquarters, the Triskelion.

It's a huge white building built on its own small island in the middle of the Potomac River. It forms a sort of L shape, the L lying on its side with a long building connected to a rounded tower. They cross a bridge leading into the base of the tower and down into a parking garage. They're led to a level that's been closed off just for them with guards keeping anyone else from getting in. This is as far as the Autobots can go since most of the Triskelion isn't Cybertronian-sized. At least, that's what it appears S.H.I.E.L.D. believes, for when Ari steps out of Sideswipe's alt mode she gets surrounded by agents with suits and stone-cold faces just like Coulson's, but at least with Coulson she can still sense a kindness underneath that tough skin. With these men there's nothing but cold. Two of them each grab one of her forearms with a vice-like grip.

"Hey, let go!" Ari yells, trying not to panic as she struggles to escape. Will and Rob try to rush to her aid but they're held back by a couple of agents with the rest of the soldiers, all of them powerless to do anything since their guns were taken from them at the port. A string of profanities leaves Lina's mouth as she tries to push her way through but one of the agents grab her as well.

"Stand down," Coulson orders, his voice like steel.

"I'm sorry, Agent Coulson," one of the agents holding her says, "but we've been ordered to detain Arianna Lennox."

"Why? There's no reason to. The manhunt is over. The threat eliminated."

"I'm sorry, sir, but our orders come directly from Council Representative Galloway."

Dread spikes through Ari. Galloway, he must be back already, or at least in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Council again. He's back to calling the shots and right now he's blaming her for everything.

Then suddenly the agents holding her are yanked away, they lose their grips on her arms, and someone else holds her. Sideswipe's holoform holds her securely in his arms, glaring at the agents around them furiously. She wraps her arms around his middle, pressing her body as close to his as possible. Whatever happens, it'll be okay so long as they're together. Sides will keep her safe. Sunny, too. She can feel someone standing close behind her and looks over her shoulder to see Sunny at her back facing the agents, arms spread protectively. The agents pull out their side arms, pointing the pistols at the three of them. Obviously, they were not expecting holoforms and are not handling the surprise very well.

"You're not taking Ari anywhere," Sideswipe says, his voice sounding calm but there is a very obvious threatening undertone. The holoforms of the rest of the Autobots materialize around them, creating a protective circle. The agents shift anxiously on their feet, gripping their guns tighter.

"Enough." Next to Coulson now stands Director Fury, hands clasped behind his back and his one good eye trained on his agents. "Don't you people have better things to do than waste all our time?"

"But, sir," the agent who spoke before says, "our orders-"

"I know what your orders are." Fury stalks closer, placing himself between them and the agent. "Now _I'm_ ordering you to stand down."

The agents glance at each other uncertainly.

"I'd do what he says, agents," Coulson says, "or else you may end up somewhere…unpleasant for your next assignment. Just ask Agent Barton." He smirks slightly as if he's remembering something amusing. "It's something he's familiar with."

After a few more moments of deliberation the agents lower their weapons. Fury orders them away and turns to Ari. "Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance."

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, you know us," Ari says with a small smile. "We don't like to do things the easy way."

"So I've heard." He motions for them to follow him. "Now, if you'll follow me, we'll get you settled into some rooms so you can get some rest."

"What about the Council and Galloway?" Will asks. "They're not exactly happy with us."

"Don't worry, I've called off the wolves for now. We'll deal with everything in the morning."

"Yippee," Ari murmurs to herself but Sideswipe hears and he gives her his cocky smile.

"We'll be fine." Sideswipe lets go of her waist but as he moves away one of his hands takes one of hers. His hand almost completely engulfs hers, his fingers warm and firm. She likes the way they fit together.

They hold hands the entire way through the Triskelion, all the while with a delighted little smile on Ari's lips.

* * *

Ari wakes up to knocking at the door. She moans, turns over in the S.H.I.E.L.D. issued bed that isn't very comfortable at all, and clambers up to stand with half-closed eyes. She raises her arms high above her head and stands up on her tip-toes, stretching out her muscles. They're a lot better than the day before, almost all of the soreness gone. Yay for accelerated healing.

There's more knocking, more insistent this time. She sighs. "Coming, I'm coming."

She pulls the door open and there stands Coulson in a fresh suit looking perfectly wide awake. "Good morning, Ari."

"Phil?" She rubs her eyes sleepily. "What time is it?"

"A little after seven."

Ari groans, leaning against the door jamb. "How can you be so awake so _early_?"

A corner of his mouth tilts up. "Practice."

_Crazy secret agent super powers._ "So what can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we will be meeting with the World Security Council at 8 A.M."

Ari stands up straight, all grogginess leaving her. Less than an hour. In less than an hour she has to stand up to the Council and try to save N.E.S.T. She looks down at her clothes, a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. slacks that she found in the dresser of her room so she didn't have to sleep in the same wrinkled, dirty clothes she's worn for the past several days. Not exactly the best thing to wear to a meeting with people she needs to impress. "I don't suppose you have something else I can wear, do you?"

"Ah," Coulson looks over her clothes as well. "You should probably look a bit more presentable in front of them."

She grimaces. "Got any ideas?"

He hums lowly to himself, thinking it over, and then his eyes light up in a way she's never seen before. Almost as if he would be smiling devilishly if his mask wasn't so good. "I think I may know someone who can help."

"Am I going to regret this?" she asks suspiciously.

"A possibility, but it's the best we can do on short notice. There's an agent I know who's very good at knowing how to dress for the occasion. I can ask her for a favor. Well," his brow furrows slightly, "I can ask someone else to ask her for a favor."

That's unlike Coulson. He seems…sad. "You okay, Phil?"

"Yeah, I just," he looks away with a small, regretful smile. "I just remembered that I can't actually talk to her is all."

"Why not?"

"Do you remember how, after New York, you thought I had died in the battle?" She nods. "Most everyone still believes that."

Ari's eyes widen. "Everyone still thinks you're dead? Why haven't you told them you're still alive?"

"Director Fury ordered me not to. He was the one who announced me dead in the first place. The Avengers, the group of people who fought against the Chitauri, they weren't getting along, their personalities clashing, and they needed a push in order to pull together as a team. It worked but…."

"But with the lie already out there you guys don't know how to fix things without it blowing up in your faces." She shakes her head in disbelief. "Phil, you can't let things go on like this. What about your family? Your friends?"

He shrugs a shoulder. "I don't have any family."

Ari reaches out and takes his hand, squeezes. All of these fragging agents and their stupid masks, acting like nothing phases them, that nothing bothers them. They think they need them in order to stay strong, that they need to keep others from seeing what they're really feeling, but Ari knows from experience that's a load of slag. "What about friends?" she asks quietly. "This lady agent sounds like a friend. And the agent you mentioned yesterday. Barton? Wouldn't they like to know you're okay?'

A small sigh escapes but there's no other sign of Coulson's mask giving. "It doesn't matter now." He steps back slightly. "I'll go pull some strings and get her sent over with some supplies right away."

They say brief goodbyes and then Coulson walks off down the hallway, phone already to his ear, and Ari closes the door with a sigh. He misses his friends, it's obvious. Especially those two agents. But he can't tell them he's alive.

Or he's afraid to.

* * *

Ari isn't sure what to expect of Coulson's friend and how she's going to get her ready in under forty minutes, but the woman who appears at her door with wavy, blazing red hair cut off at her chin, a duffel bag on one shoulder, and several articles of clothing hanging over her arm, it's not quite what Ari had in mind. And she isn't wearing a suit like every other agent Ari's seen. She's in plain clothes; jeans and a snug black shirt that show off her skinny figure, but there are no traces of fat, just pure muscle. Just what kind of agent is she?

"Hello," the woman says with a small, polite smile that doesn't reach her striking green eyes. "I'm Agent Natasha Romanoff. Heard you could use some help."

"Uh, hi," Ari stammers, a little taken aback. "I'm-"

"Arianna Lennox." Agent Romanoff steps around Ari and into the room, giving it a quick once over before shifting that calculating gaze back to her. "You prefer Ari though, right?"

Ari blinks in surprise as she closes her door. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Information is kind of my thing." She sets her things down on the bed. "So, you're going to talk to the brass upstairs and need some help getting ready."

Ari gulps, not quite sure what this agent's definition of "help" is. Romanoff has this air about her. It's beautiful and striking while at the same time dangerous and lethal. "That's the plan. Though last time I talked to them things almost ended…badly."

"You just have to learn how to deal with them. Allow them to think they're in control when really you're leading them right where you want them. And a key part of that manipulation is in how you portray yourself." Romanoff begins to circle her slowly, analyzing every inch of her, like a lioness stalking prey. "How you look and dress is one of your greatest assets. You need to appear innocent and alluring, but at the same time strong and confident. Let them think you're a harmless little fly when really they're the ones falling into your web. The thing is, if you seem too weak they'll walk all over you. Seem too strong and they'll put up their guards. It's a careful balance, but one I think you'll be able to maintain with a little push in the right direction."

Ari swallows again but suddenly her mouth is dry. There is no doubt in her mind that Romanoff has that balance down to an art. "You're kind of scary, you know that?"

"So I've been told," Romanoff says with a smirk, stopping in front of Ari again. "Shall we get started then?"

Romanoff takes Ari into the joined bathroom, closes the toilet lid, and pushes Ari down by her shoulders to sit. She then takes a makeup bag out of the duffel and orders Ari not to move an inch, meticulously applying eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, and a bunch of other things Ari can't even begin to name. Romanoff works fast but carefully with practiced ease. Ari just sits there, mouth shut, as Romanoff does her thing. Normally Ari doesn't mind the silence. Prefers it actually. But that's because she usually has nothing to say. Right now, she has a lot of questions rolling around in her head.

"So," Ari begins, not really sure where to begin but considering there isn't much time, cutting to the chase sounds about right. "I heard you…knew Phil."

Romanoff's hands still, the foundation brush hovering just over Ari's skin, but she gives no other reaction. Slag, her mask is even better than Coulson's. She starts working again with her eyes set firmly on her task. "You mean Agent Coulson? How did you know him?"

"Yeah, he's the one who handled my case." Ari pauses, unsure how much she's allowed to say. "I, uh, got to work with him a few times."

"N.E.S.T. and Cybertronians are classified level five," Romanoff says, already guessing what Ari is thinking. "I'm level six. I know the truth about what happened in Mission City and some of your later exploits."

Ari chuckles nervously. "Right. So I don't have to lie then. Cool." She fidgets a little but Romanoff stills her with just a look. "So, uh, how did you know him?"

"He was my handler, ever since I was…recruited," she smirks, a mysterious smirk Ari's seen before.

"I recognize hat look from Coulson. This story have something to do with Agent Barton?"

"Phil was Barton's handler as well. It's a little above your clearance level, but let's just say Barton brought home a stray cat S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't exactly want."

"But Coulson did?"

"Yeah, Phil did." Romanoff still doesn't give anything away through her mask as she focuses on what she's doing, her tone as casual as if they're discussing the weather, but Ari does know one thing: she calls him Phil. And that is a privilege few get. They were friends, are friends, and she misses him.

When the makeup is finished they move back into the bedroom where Romanoff looks through the outfits she brought until she picks one out and holds it up by the hanger for Ari to take.

"Put this on and make it quick," Romanoff says. "You need to be out that door in twenty and I still want to do something with your hair."

Ari does as she's told and this outfit. It's a little different than anything she's ever worn before. Looking in the bathroom mirror, she hardly recognizes herself. It's a blue woman's business suit, pencil skirt with a slit up the back so she can walk, a white collared shirt, and a blazer that buttons in the middle. Her makeup isn't nearly as heavy as she though it was at first, just light touches, and the whole ensemble makes her look older. When she opens the bathroom door Romanoff steps inside, attacking her hair with a brush and bobby pins until it is subdued into a bun at the back of Ari's head. Romanoff has a slight frown, though, still not satisfied. Then she reaches for the buttons on Ari's shirt, which had been done all the way up, and undoes several more than what Ari is comfortable with, revealing a bit of cleavage.

"Is that really necessary?" Ari whines, her cheeks heating up at feeling so exposed.

"Yes, it is," Romanoff says, voice leaving no room for argument. "Like I said, it's a careful balance. And most of the Council is made up of men. If you give them just enough and leave the rest up to their imaginations, then you may find them more compliant. They're politicians, after all, which can make them worse dogs than the typical male." She goes back into the bedroom, Ari following, and shuffles around inside the duffel bag. When she faces Ari again she's holding a pair of stiletto heels.

Air blanches. "Oh, no. No way am I wearing those. I'll do the rest of," she gestures towards her shirt, "this, but I'm not wearing heels. I don't think I could even walk in those."

Romanoff sighs softly but gives a short nod. "Fine." She switches the heels out for flats. "Perhaps we can work on that some other time."

Ari glances up at her as she slips the shoes on. "You'd really help me again?"

"I remember Phil…." For a split second Ari thinks the mask slips, a flash of fondness and loyalty and grief shining in her eyes, but then it's gone. "I remember Phil mentioning you a couple of times. You were his friend and he trusted you. That's good enough reason for me."

Ari turns away to grab her bracelets on the dresser, hiding her sad smile. More than anything, she wishes she could tell Romanoff the truth, that Coulson is still alive, but the words lodge in her throat. She can't. It would be going against Fury's orders, though not like she cares, but in any case, it should be Coulson to tell her the truth, in person. Not some random stranger.

Romanoff walks up beside her, looking at the bracelets over her shoulder. "Those are beautiful."

Ari strokes the one on her left wrist. "Thanks. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker gave them to me on my first Christmas."

If Romanoff thinks the wording of that statement strange, she gives no indication. Instead she says, "Did they give you the necklace as well?" She nods towards the pendant resting against Ari's sternum. "That's the Autobot insignia, right?"

"Yeah, but Ratchet is actually the one who gave this to me." Ari's hand automatically reaches for the pendant, stroking her thumb across the metal. "He gave it to me to help keep me safe."

One of Romanoff's thin eyebrows arches in curiosity and she reaches out a hand. "May I see?" Ari nods and Romanoff gently lifts the pendant away from her bare skin to inspect, her finger ghosting over the back and no doubt feeling the three buttons. "So it's a panic button?"

"Basically. It's saved my life more than once. The bracelets, too."

"And what do they do?"

Instead of explaining Ari decides to demonstrate, pressing the blue gem on one to activate the blade. A glint of fascination and appreciation flashes across Romanoff's face.

"Oh, I like these." She strokes a finger along the blade softly. "I can certainly see them coming in handy in my line of work."

Pressing the gem again to put the blade away, Ari casts Romanoff a cautious gaze. "Does your line of work always require knives?"

In one swift motion a knife appears in Romanoff's hand seemingly pulled from nowhere and she reaches out for Ari's shoulder. Ari flinches back slightly, suddenly very wary of this agent's intention, but all Romanoff does is grasp a stray thread that has come undone from the stitching of the blazer's shoulder and uses the knife to cut it away. "No, I don't always need knives," she says as she slips the knife back to wherever she got it from, "but I always like to keep a few on hand for emergencies."

What kind of emergencies does she run into that require knives? Agent Romanoff is such a mysterious woman. It's easy to sense her intensity, even hidden behind her mask, and that coupled with the small things she's said, from Coulson being her "handler" to her lesson in manipulation, Ari can't help but ask, "What is it you do for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Are you some kind of spy or something?"

Romanoff gives a small chuckle. "I've always found the term 'spy' to be rudimentary and belittling of my skills, but, yes, you could say that."

Ari's mouth drops open in a small "o," not expecting Romanoff to be so open about it but it's probably just because of their mutual friendship with Coulson that she's being honest about it. It certainly makes a lot of sense though. S.H.I.E.L.D. is an intelligence organization, after all, meaning someone has to go out and get the intelligence on all of the evil threatening the world. And Romanoff certainly seems to be very good at her job. The source of her deadly air suddenly has new meaning, but Ari can't make herself be afraid. Coulson trusted this woman enough to send her to Ari alone.

"Is Agent Barton a spy, like you?" Ari asks, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"He doesn't usually do spy work, no. He's a marksman."

"So, like, a sniper?" A part of her thinks "assassin" but she knows that's not fair. Most of the people in her life now are in the military, some of them probably snipers as well. The thought of someone being ordered to sneak onto a rooftop to kill someone makes her stomach turn a little, but a part of her also knows that in war things aren't all that simple, that sometimes somethings are necessary in order to keep people safe. Slag, if someone was ordered to assassinate Megatron she certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

"He does use sniper rifles on occasion," Romanoff says, "if the distance to the mark is too far, but his preferred weapon of choice is a bow."

It's Ari's turn for her eyebrow to arch in surprise. "Seriously?"

Romanoff smirks. "Whatever you do, don't laugh. A couple of new recruits did once when they found out and the next day they woke up duck taped to the rafters in the gym."

"Oh, now I really wish I could meet him." Ari grins wickedly. "Sides and Sunny would just love him. They're diehard pranksters too."

"Maybe next time." She looks at her watch. "But right now you need to get going. It's almost eight."

A surge of disappointment swells Ari's chest. She wishes they had more time to talk, about Agent Barton, what it is exactly Romanoff does as a spy, and about Coulson, but Romanoff is already opening the door and they both head out.

Once in the hallway they shakes hands. "It was nice to meet you, Agent Romanoff," Ari says.

"Same here." Romanoff smiles, a bigger smile than any Ari's seen during their small time together. "And good luck."

As Romanoff walks off, probably to go back to her own room, Ari watches after her with a promise already forming in her mind.

_I need to help them. I need to bring Phil back together with Romanoff and Barton and all the others who surely miss him. This can't go on._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this chapter took me places I didn't expect it to. I didn't originally plan to be introducing Agent Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widdow, for a while yet. I know I've mentioned she was going to be showing up in this story, along with Agent Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, but I'm nowhere near ready for the Avengers portion of this fic yet. However, Natasha had other ideas. I felt it necessary to at least mention the two agents before they show up to fulfill their major rolls of this story, but just mentioning them ended up becoming Natasha knocking on Ari's door. Yeah, didn't plan that at all, but I like where it ended up. I thought about adding Clint too, but then decided against it. Anyway, let me know what you guys think of my Natasha, especially you Marvel fans. Want to know if there's anything I need to improve on.
> 
> Next chapter we face off against the World Security Council. This chapter and next chapter were originally supposed to be together but they turned into such massive chapters I had to break it apart. Sideswipe doesn't show up a whole lot in the next chapter though so I threw in a cute fluffy bit at the end that know you all will love.
> 
> In other news, I am returning to updating to once a week, so keep an eye out for that.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	38. Fallout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, let's speed thing sup a bit, shall we?

_**Fallout** _

Ari meets Director Fury down in the lobby, a room with concrete walls and floor, giving it an institutional, almost prison-like feel. The sunlight filtering in through the glass roof is a nice effort to make it seem more cheery but fails. This is a place of business, a place where some of the world's most guarded secrets are kept, a place where the people working here risk their lives every day in order to keep the world safe. There's no room for color in a place like this because everything they see is in black and white and shades of gray in between. Fury stands in his black leather trench coat in the middle of the hustle and bustle right next to a metal statue of the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, an eagle with wings outstretched as if it's ready to protect all those who seek refuge underneath its feathers. His one good eye roams over all of the passing agents causing those who fall under his gaze to straighten their postures and walk just a little bit faster. When he sees her he nods approvingly. "Romanoff sure made quick work of you."

She glances over herself. These business clothes feel so foreign on her body like she's a kid playing dress-up in adult clothing. "Yeah, she sure did. Phil was right though. I'm not sure if I regret her help or not." She self-consciously pulls up on the open part of her shirt.

"In any case, you look good. Ready for this?"

"Not really." She takes a deep breath, releases it slowly. "But I'm going anyway."

Fury leads her to the bank of elevators on the side of the lobby opposite the escalator leading to the dorms. When one arrives they step inside, a quick glance from Fury keeping any other agents from following them. There's a holographic screen built seamlessly into the wall to the right of the door making the metal look like it's glowing glue. As they enter their names appear on the screen but there are no buttons for floor numbers. Fury turns with his back facing one of the three glass walls with his hands curled around the handrail and says, "World Security Council."

"Arianna Lennox does not have clearance for this level," a disembodied voice says, a female voice that sounds slightly artificial.

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."

"Confirmed." Their destination appears on the holographic screen and the elevator doors close as they begin their ascent.

"What was that?" Ari asks, eyes searching the ceiling, almost expecting the elevator to be a Cybertronian even though she's never heard of such a thing.

"It's an artificial intelligence that runs the building. The elevators and rooms are biometrically controlled to keep people from going where they're not supposed to."

"What security clearance  _do_  I have? Agent Romanoff said that the Autobots and everything is level five."

"She's right, but you have unique circumstances. You may know about Cybertronians and N.E.S.T. but that doesn't automatically make you level five. You're not allowed to know about anything above level one."

Well, that's kind of disappointing. Ari was hoping to learn more about the sort of secrets this organization has been keeping from the world. "And what can I know as a level one?"

"That S.H.I.E.L.D. exists." The elevator stops and they step out into a hallway where Coulson is waiting for them.

_I wonder how he gets around this building without people freaking out about seeing ghosts._

He nods in greeting. "Director Fury. Ari." A small smile tugs at his mouth when he looks at her. "I see things went well with Romanoff."

Oh, yeah, things went real well with Romanoff. She wants to give Coulson a piece of her mind, Fury too actually, but now is not the time. Instead she just thanks him and says, "Where is everyone else?"

"I have agents debriefing them as we speak," Fury says. "The Council is only interested in speaking with the three of us."

Ari gulps. So she has to do this by herself? She was hoping Sideswipe, or at least Will or Optimus, would be with her. All of a sudden it's a little harder to breathe, air shuddering through her lungs, and her palms are sweaty. Considering everything that's happened, is the Council even going to be interested in actually hearing her out, getting their side of the story? Or is this meeting just a formality?

"Ari," Coulson says but she doesn't really listen, her worry and nervousness buzzing around loudly in her head drowning everything else out. "Ari. Ari, look at me." His hand grasps her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts and her eyes focus on him, burning with desperation. "Ari, you're going to do great. And we'll be right beside you."

She grasps his hand with hers, taking comfort from his words and presence. She can do this. Just breathe in and breathe out. Don't panic. Speak clearly and politely. Everyone trusts her to be able to do this. If she has all of these people at her back, then everything will be okay. No matter the outcome. With her fear contained Ari gives the two agents a nod and she follows them through a door at the end of the hall.

The room is long with bright fluorescent lights making the wide open space seem even emptier than it is. Twelve empty chairs take up the center of the room, spread out into a large circle. The back wall is made entirely of windows with the magnificent view of D.C. spread out before them. They must be at the top of the tower, or very nearly. It reminds Ari of an emperor's palace situated on a mountain, allowing him to gaze down on his domain. And standing at the window with his back to them wearing a crisp new suit is Galloway.

"You're late," he says, his voice clipped, biting. Ari can't suppress a flinch as they move into the center of the circle. She knows that tone from Ron, whenever he ordered her to clean the house or some other chore.

Fury glares at the back of Galloway's head, clasping his hands behind his back. "Check the clock, Mr. Galloway. We're actually a few minutes early."

Galloway turns around to face them, his eyes narrowing when they land on her and Coulson. "Well, at least  _someone_  can follow orders."

"Now is not the time for childish accusations. Last I checked, we're all more mature than five-year-olds." Fury walks over to a computer sitting in front of a huge glass screen depicting a map of the world. The computer has a glass monitor and a table with a holographic keyboard just like the elevator. He presses a few keys and one by one curved sheets of glass rise up out of the floor to stand in front of the chairs. A fuzzy light appears on each glass, almost like T.V. static. When the static clears, a person appears on each glass, men and women with varying ages and ethnicities, and if Ari looks at them just right it looks like they're sitting in the chairs.

The World Security Council. And this time their faces aren't obscured in shadow. Whether it's because they're more comfortable without the presence of aliens or because this line is more secure without the threat of others hacking the connection, Ari isn't sure. Either way, she now has a clear view of their indignant faces. She gulps but her mouth is dry. They look like they already made up their minds about her and Coulson and everyone else. And it's up to her to convince them that what she and the others did was right.

"Thank you for coming," one of the members begins, an older man, early to mid-sixties, with thinning white hair. The wrinkles on his forehead and the permanent frown lines around his mouth makes her think he does a lot of scowling. It's the American member from the first time she spoke with the Council. He wanted to experiment on her when she told them she contains the AllSpark and the memory makes her chest tighten. He can't get to her, she knows, Optimus made sure of it, but she can't help but wonder what would happen if things go wrong today.

Fury nods to her, giving her the go-ahead to take the lead, and she takes in a slow breath through her nose. There's no point in worrying about that now, so she puts on a polite smile and says, "Thank you for allowing us to clear things up about the past couple days."

He gives her a patronizing look. "I'm not sure there is much for you to clear up. Hostile aliens attack cities around the world, asking for you as ransom, and you evade custody. Then the N.E.S.T. team disobeys direct orders to travel halfway around the world, forcing our representative to jump out of the plane, all so they can aid you, a wanted fugitive."

"It was my idea to force Galloway from the plane," Coulson speak out in her defense. "Neither Ms. Lennox nor N.E.S.T. are at fault. I take full responsibility."

"We will get to you in a moment, Agent Coulson," the American says dismissively.

All twelve pairs of eyes focus on Ari as she stands in the middle of their circle, turning so she can stare back at the Council apprehensively. This feels very much like a witch hunt. They are laying all of the blame at her feet, no matter her innocence, and they are ready to drown her. But she can't let them. She has to change their minds, manipulating them just like Romanoff told her to. Her eyes catch with Coulson's and he gives her an encouraging nod.

"Let me get this straight," Ari says, voice surprisingly clear and steady. "You are upset with me because I evaded custody?"

"Yes," the American snaps as if he's speaking to an ignorant child.

"And your intention, once you had me, was to use me as a bargaining chip to get the Decepticons to leave Earth?"

"Yes," Galloway says, stalking closer to her. "We could have tried to reach a diplomatic solution that would have kept the Decepticons from attacking us ever again."

She can see the logic in it. Giving up one person for the sake of the entire planet. Doesn't keep it from stinging, though, their complete willingness to turn her over to the Decepticons. But she shoves it down deep, stepping closer to Galloway so they are glaring at each other eye to eye. He's a good head taller than her and he tries to use the height difference to intimidate her. She just raises her chin and gives him a small, smug smile. Worry crosses over his face before he can school his features, and she can tell he knows: she has them right where she wants them.

She turns away, eyes passing from member to member, ready to take out the strongest voice of opposition against her. "Do you know why the Decepticons wanted me?"

They look at each other but no one says a word.

"They wanted me," she clasps her hands behind her back, pacing slowly around the circle, "because I had something that they wanted. Information on the location of a certain Cybertronian artifact that was hidden here on Earth thousands of years ago."

"And how did you come across this information?" the British councilwoman says, her light brown hair cut to a bob and critical hazel eyes. She was on Ari's side last time. Perhaps she will be again.

Ari's eyes narrow at Galloway and then flicker to Coulson and Fury uncertainly. "It is something I wish not to discuss while among certain people present."

"Answer the question, Ms. Lennox," Galloway growls. "That wasn't a request."

"No, Mr. Galloway. According to the Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty, I have every right to refuse. I get to choose who knows my secrets and I do not choose you."

_Oh, Primus, focus, Ari. You may be nervous but now is not the time for Pokémon jokes._

Anger boils beneath Galloway's skin, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "As part of this Council I demand to know!"

"Actually, Mr. Galloway," one member says, an Arabian with tanned skin, dark hair, and glasses perched on his nose, "you are not a member of this Council, strictly speaking. You are our representative. And since we are able to speak with everyone involved directly, at the moment, you are not needed."

Galloway tries to oppose, mouth stuttering to form a sentence, but he's cut off.

"Good day, Mr. Galloway," the British woman says definitively. "We have your report. If we need anything else from you we will let you know."

For once Galloway is knocked down a few pegs. Firmly on his aft, even, mouth and eyes wide with disbelief that he's being dismissed so offhandedly and probably wondering how things got so out of his control so fast. But then he composes himself, straightening his jacket, and storms out of the room without sparing her a glance.

_Primus, that felt good._

The American watches Galloway leave a little bleakly as well but lets it go with a sigh. He turns his attention to Coulson and Fury. "Director, agent, you will need to leave as well."

The two men turn to leave but Ari steps towards them. "Wait." They turn back and she takes a moment to study their faces, deliberating. They've helped her a lot over the past two years, especially Coulson, but Fury has proven he has her back, especially over the past couple of days. Her right hand raises to her left arm, fingertips skimming over where the AllSpark marks are. It's hard to see through their masks but then they drop them, only a fraction, only for a split second, but she sees enough. "I-I want them to know."

"Very well then," the British woman says as Coulson and Fury return to stand beside her in the circle again. "Please, continue, Ms. Lennox."

She nods, some of her nervousness coming back as she wonders how well the two men beside her are going to handle the truth about her, but she presses on. "I know we haven't had a chance to update you on my status as the AllSpark, so I will briefly do so now." Her eyes shoot to Fury and Coulson, some surprise and confusion seeping through, and she knows by the look in Fury's one eye that she's going to need to sit down with them when this meeting is over and explain a few things. "I have acquired three new marks since the AllSpark transferred into me in Mission City. They are knowledge, healing, and life. It is because of the knowledge mark that the Decepticons were after me."

Ari gives them a quick rundown of what's happened, from first receiving the riddle to the Fallen's defeat, leaving out a few choice moments of course. Her and Sideswipe's developed relationship is still so new and different to her. Others…she's not sure they'd understand. Especially not these people. But there is one thing she makes sure they understand. That if they had handed her over, the Decepticons would have gotten a hold of the Matrix, used it to turn on the sun harvester, and the world would have frozen over. The Decepticons will never negotiate with "insects".

When the American starts to hum thoughtfully to himself, though, hand rubbing over his chin, Ari's muscles tense up, ready for a fight. "That is some considerable power you have there, Ms. Lennox," he says. "If you would only allow us to examine you we could-"

"No." Director Fury steps close beside her placing a protective hand on her shoulder. "According to the treaty she is not to be touched under any circumstances."

"But there is so much we could learn-"

"The last time we messed with something alien it brought Loki and the Chitauri knocking down our door with the threat of invasion." Ari's eyes latch onto Fury with surprise, wondering what they could have been messing with to bring an alien army down on New York, but he doesn't elaborate. "The AllSpark is best left in Ari's capable hands and out of our reach. Yes, we could learn a lot from it, but this isn't just some cube. It's a human life, a life we should be protecting, and not just for her sake, but to keep the AllSpark out of enemy hands."

Quiet mumblings drift around the circle as the council members discuss among themselves and Ari takes the moment to nod to Fury gratefully. If she still had doubts that he would have her back knowing her secret they are gone now. He nods back and drops his arm back to his side.

"Alright," the British woman says, "we have made a decision. Though under duress, the decision to detain Ms. Lennox in order to turn her over to the Decepticons in the hopes of achieving peace between our two species was made, we admit, too hastily without all of the variables being considered. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that the actions of Ms. Lennox, Agent Coulson, and N.E.S.T. were justified and N.E.S.T. will be allowed to resume operating as normal." The American makes a grunt of disapproval and a few other members don't seem all together pleased, but they all nod. "Now there is just one more thing we need to discuss."

"Like what?" Ari asks cautiously. She thought she just made it out of the storm but maybe all they did was just pass through the eye. What else does she have to beat back?

"Containment. The one you call the Fallen broadcasted the existence of Cybertronians to the entire world. Already people are starting to panic and if we do not get ahead of this it will only get worse. People are looking for answers. We need to figure out what to tell them."

"And you want my help in deciding that?"

"You have already proven yourself quite capable today," says the Arab councilman. "If you still wish to become Autobot Ambassador, these are the kind of decisions you will be in charge of making."

She nods to herself, already feeling a tremendous weight being dropped on her shoulders, and today is only a taste of what she wants to do as an actual career. It will be up to her to figure out the best course of action when it comes to the protection of the Autobots and all Cybertronians. What secrets that need to be kept and what they need to be honest about. How is she supposed to know that though? She licks her lips nervously. One step at a time. "Exactly how bad is it so far?"

"We've been monitoring all forms of communication since the broadcast," Fury says, walking over to the computer again and typing something into it. The screen with the map changes until several news stations and internet articles pop up all over. "Right now, people are still in debate on whether or not it was a hoax, but the signal was broadcasted to every device in the world, from T.V.s to cell phones. Any computer expert could verify that the footage wasn't faked and it's already starting." He touches the big screen, bringing a particular window to the center and enlarging it. "This is a blog run by a Mr. Allen Maxwell. We've had our eyes on his site for some time now, ever since Mission City. Apparently, his wife was one of the civilian casualties caught up in the battle. He was out of town at the time on a business trip. He started his site not long after."

Ari's heart clenches. She knew there had been some people who died during the battle but she's never heard much about them. A wave of guilt turns in her stomach. If she had just been faster or stronger that day, then maybe this man's wife wouldn't have died. "I take it he doesn't cast Cybertronians in a pretty light?"

Fury shakes his head. "Not at all. He mostly posts videos and photos trying to prove Cybertronians exist, a lot like your friend, Ms. Spitz, but instead of focusing on how the government is keeping secrets he's trying to convince people that the aliens are a threat that needs to be eliminated. His site didn't get very many viewers until the Chitauri attacked New York. Once it became apparent that we're not alone in the universe people started to believe him a bit more. But after the Fallen's broadcast, his viewers skyrocketed to the thousands. By our calculations, he could have well over a million viewers by the end of the week. That broadcast went a long way in showing people he may be right, that Cybertronians do exist and that they are a threat."

"So, Ms. Lennox," the British councilwoman says, "what do you believe should be done?"

Ari wipes a rough hand across her face, staring at Allen Maxwell's blog. There is a lot of hate bleeding through his words. And people are believing him. Why shouldn't they though? All they've seen is death and destruction caused by aliens. The Chitauri, led by Loki, tried to take over New York and would have taken over the world if the Avengers hadn't found a way to stop them. And Cybertronians, people have seen them fighting, have been trapped in the middle of their battles, for years. But they don't know that there are Autobots and Decepticons, good guys and bad guys. They just see aliens and aliens equals fear.

So what they need to do is prove everyone wrong. "We tell the truth."

"I beg your pardon?" the British woman says, voiced filled with shock.

"We need to tell everyone the truth." Ari turns back into the circle, looking at each of the Council members in earnest. "Keeping this a secret, burying it again, it's not going to work. At this point, it's only going to make everyone suspicious. You can tell them a lie, but they won't believe it. They already know that aliens are real and now Cybertronians are out in the open. There's no sweeping them back under the rug this time."

The American snorts. "We can't just tell them a secret of this magnitude."

"You did with the Chitauri."

"That case was completely different."

"You're right," Ari says, voice getting louder and louder, "this isn't the same as it was then. It's  _worse_  now!" She pauses. Takes a calming breath. "All everyone knows right now about aliens is that they attacked our cities and hurt and killed thousands of people. That was true of the Chitauri, but it's not true of Cybertronians. Cybertronians have hurt and killed, but there are also those who  _defended_  us, who we would have all died without. Right now, humans believe all aliens are evil and they will never know the truth unless we show it to them. Keeping this secret will only do more harm than good, will only cause more fear and hatred. I suggest we introduce the Autobots to the human race and show them that, yes, we are not alone in the universe, but we don't have to be afraid of everything that's out there."

The Council members murmur amongst themselves as they deliberate again and Ari stands still, muscles tense, as she waits for their decision. Coulson comes up beside her and asks, "Do you really think it wise, full disclosure?"

Ari looks back at the screen where Allen Maxwell's blog is still showing. "I don't see how we have any other choice now." Things like that blog are only going to grow and fester like a boil until one day they explode. And it will be the Autobots who will pay for it.

"Ms. Lennox." Ari turns her attention to the British councilwoman. The corner of the woman's mouth tilts up ever so slightly. "You have shown a lot of wisdom for such a young age. You are right. The existence of aliens from other worlds is a fact among society now and we must learn to accept it. If we are to do that, then we need to help the world realize, just as you say, that we are not alone but neither do we stand alone. Director Fury." Fury's chin raises slightly in acknowledgment. "If the Autobot leader agrees, prepare a press conference so that the Autobots may be introduced to the people of the Earth."

"And who will present them?" Fury asks.

Her smile widens. "We will leave that up to our Autobot Ambassador. You are dismissed."

And just like that all of the screens blink out and the glass descends back into the floor. Ari takes her first full breath of air since waking up this morning. She did it. She actually did it. She made the Council see reason and they're all free and clear. Her legs turn a little wobbly with the sudden relief of the tension and anxiety, but she stays on her feet because she did it. If anything, she stands just a little bit taller.

But she also has to give a press conference to the entire fragging world. She gulps slightly. Another worry for a time that isn't right this second.

"Congratulations, Ms. Lennox, you just survived your first encounter with politics," Fury says with the first real smile she's ever seen on his face. "And you weren't too shabby."

Her cheeks warm with a slight blush. "Thank you, Director, but I'm not sure they would have given in without you giving them that final push."

"I have no doubt you could have found the push on your own, but I wanted both them and you to know on which side I stand. And it was you who convinced them to tell the world the truth."

"Well, thank you anyway. I really appreciate it." She looks at the floor, a little doubt trickling in. "Do you think it was the right decision? So many things could go wrong with the Autobots out in the open."

"What does your gut tell you?"

She thinks it over for a moment and then looks back up at him. "That more things would go wrong if we don't"

He nods. "This organization was built to act as a shield against all of the dangers of the world, no matter how strange or otherworldly. The thing is, secrets can also be harmful, and part of keeping the world safe is knowing when to keep a secret and when to let it go."

Ari lets that sit on her mind, thinking of the secret Fury and Coulson are keeping about Coulson's "death". Would telling everyone he's alive really cause more harm than good? She doesn't know. But hopefully they'll be able to figure out when to let that secret go as well. As for this one, yes, she believes it's time.

"So," Coulson says, brow wrinkled in curiosity, "can we go back to the part where you're the AllSpark?"

Ari chuckles nervously. This is going to be fun. But after that stressful meeting there is only one thing she wants. "Only if we talk on the way to the others before another paint bomb goes off."

Fury casts his eye to Coulson. "I thought Barton was away on mission?"

"I wasn't talking about Agent Barton, although I would love to hear that story. I was talking about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker."

"They better not," Fury says, voice taking on the hint of a dark tone that's probably used to scare new agents out of their pants, "or else they'll be cleaning every painted surface clean with a toothbrush, just like Barton did."

Okay, now she really wants to know more, about Barton and Romanoff both, but she has priorities. She'll get Coulson to spill his guts to her later. Right now she just wants to get back to her…boyfriend? No, that word doesn't feel right. It feels too…juvenile, and Sideswipe is definitely not a boy. Significant other just sounds ridiculous. Maybe there's a Cybertronian word for it? But no, there wouldn't be. When two sparks find and recognize each other they would soon bond and become sparkmates. So where does that leave them?

Ari shakes those thoughts away. She loves him and he loves her. That's all they need to know.

She plasters on a smile. "So, shall we go before any madness gets started?"

Fury leads them out and back towards the elevator, taking it a couple of floors down as Ari fills them in on her own secret. She worries that they won't believe her, few people do when first hearing her story, but they don't look at her skeptically at all.

"I assure you, Ms. Lennox," Fury says, stopping in the middle of the hallway at a door that looks no different than any of the others they've passed, "this is not the craziest thing we've ever dealt with."

"Seriously?" she asks. "What would be the craziest?"

"Well, we've met the Norse god of thunder," Coulson answers. "Turned out to be an alien."

Ari's mouth snaps shut, wondering if he's serious about meeting Thor, although the name Loki would certainly make a lot of sense then. But before she can ask he grabs the door handle and swings it open into the room. Inside is a scene she's familiar with, reminding her of their time at the S-7 base after Mission City. There's a long conference table in the middle of the room, the chairs filled with N.E.S.T. soldiers and, unlike last time, the Autobots' holoforms. A small smile lifts her face. Autobots and humans together. It makes her happy to see that S.H.I.E.L.D. is more trusting than Sector Seven was.

She looks back at Fury. "What about the press conference? When and where are we going to have it?"

"We'll probably have it here in D.C.," he says, "before you all head back to Nevada. But we'll take care of the details. You just spend some time with your friends and family."

"Thank you. Both of you."

The three of them part ways and Ari slips into the room unnoticed as her eyes roam over the occupants. All of the soldiers are laughing and talking, sitting and relaxing for the first time in days. Since there aren't enough chairs most of the Autobots stand around them, joining in. Will and Rob are seated near the far end, an empty seat next to Will, and on the other side of that seat is Sideswipe. He's slouched in his chair with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a sour look on his face that makes a bubble of laughter build in her chest. Sunny is next to him, both of them silent, probably talking through their bond, and Sunny doesn't look very happy either. Ironhide stands behind them and is the first to see her. He smirks and then smacks Sideswipe in the back of the head.

"Ow!" Sides glares at Ironhide, rubbing his head. "What did you do that for?"

Ironhide jerks his chin towards her. "Your femme is here."

Sideswipe's head snaps up, his eyes automatically finding hers with an intensity that sends pleasant tingles all the way down to her toes. Before she even knows it she's walking towards him and he's up out of his seat walking briskly towards her, eyes analyzing every inch of her with every step he takes and she knows he's making sure she's okay. Because she doesn't even have to ask what he's thinking about to know it's the same thing she's thinking about, how last time they were separated like this against their will had been filled with uncertainty and fear. But as she wraps her arms tightly around his chest, arms curved up around his shoulders with her face buried in his shirk, and he wraps his arms securely around her, one around her waist and his other hand cupping the back of her head, they both know that everything is okay now. For now, the worst is behind them and together they breathe a sigh of relief.

"You okay?" he asks, chin propped on the top of her head. "They said you were meeting with the World Security Council and they wouldn't let any of us go with you, not even Optimus."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says. "Actually felt kind of good once I got past the whole freaking out part. I got to stick it to Galloway which was especially nice."

A chuckle vibrates through his chest. "Really? I would have liked to have seen that."

"Come on." She pulls back, slipping one of her hands into one of his and pulling him back towards the table. "I'll tell you all about it."

"Hey, Ari?"

"Hm?"

"I really like what you're wearing." She looks back at him and he's wearing a devilish grin that causes a blush to spread all over her face and down her neck. But she can also see so much love in his eyes. For her. A different kind of nervousness fills her now. She has no idea what's going to happen, especially with them and their relationship, but whatever does happen she's going to enjoy it as she falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't have a whole lot of time. Will update next week.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	39. Try With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I'm posting earlier than I said I was. This will now probably be the new norm, Wednesdays and Fridays. I am several DOZEN chapters ahead of writing this fic and I'm close to writing the end, so I'm going to be speeding up more and more.
> 
> Okay, go onward and enjoy!

Lina reaches into the bowl sitting between them, grabbing a handful of M&M's and popping them into her mouth. "What's your favorite food?"

Ari savors the chocolate, eating them one at a time as she considers her answer. "Waffles. Decked out in strawberries and bananas and chocolate syrup. My mom makes some really awesome waffles."

"Mine's Chinese. Honey chicken." She sighs wistfully. "I could really go for some Chinese right now. It'd be a lot better than that slag S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been feeding us."

"Favorite TV show?" Ari asks. They're lying on the roof of the Triskelion, the cold concrete seeping through the blankets beneath them. With Lina on her left and Sideswipe's holoform on her right though she's still pleasantly warm. Sunstreaker lies on the other side of his brother and together the three of them have been showing Lina the constellations as they munch on the candy they pilfered from the cafeteria. At least, that was the original plan, but with the glare of the city lights the night sky is barely visible even with very few clouds dotting the sky. So conversation shifted elsewhere, Lina and Ari asking random questions back and forth so the two roommates can get to know each other better. They've been through an alien war together but Ari still doesn't know what Lina's favorite color is even.

" _Doctor Who_ ," Lina says. "Hand's down."

"Yeah, mine too."

"Who's your favorite Doctor?"

"Hm, that's a hard one." Ari grabs another M&M, chewing slowly. "I'd probably say the tenth Doctor. I really loved David Tennant, especially when he was with Rose."

"Yeah, the tenth Doctor was cool, but I really like the eleventh with Amy Pond. Amy has to be my absolute favorite out of all of the companions. She's such a badaft."

Sideswipe sits up suddenly, reaching over Ari to snatch up some candy. His close proximity causes Ari to hold her breath as a pleasant chill runs across her skin. If she were to raise her head up just a few inches his face would be right there. Sideswipe flashes her a crooked grin as he lies back down, handing some of his plunder to his brother. She starts breathing again and she throws him a half-hearted glare. Cocky mech did that on purpose. His grin widens.

Sunny pops a few of the candies into his mouth and says, "Bow ties are cool." They laugh and fall silent again as Ari tries to think of her next question, but her mind just ends up drifting to what she has to face the next day.

It's been about a week since they first arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It's been difficult to keep themselves entertained. Ari had been hoping to spend some time with Agent Romanoff but by the time she left the conference room that day she met with the World Security Council Romanoff had already been sent off on another assignment and has yet to return. Coming up with other things to occupy their time hasn't been easy but thankfully nothing to do with pranks. Well. Not too much anyway. Fury and Coulson have been working every day planning the press conference and they've been stuck here the entire time, never being allowed to venture off of the small island. Although not all of them have been confined here. Fury sent everyone home who's not needed to appear at the press conference which consisted of most of the soldiers, minus Will and Rob, and Simmons. He tried to make Lina go home but she refused, demanding to stay by Ari's side, giving the excuse that she needs to provide moral support and to keep the "fragging aftpipes" from pulling anymore stunts. Fury was a little bit dumbfounded in the face of Lina's extensive use of Cybertronian curse words, a few of them some even Ari has never heard before and had to peruse the AllSpark knowledge in order to find out what they mean. Apparently Skids and Mudflap have quite the mouth since that's most likely where Lina heard them. Fury finally gave in if only to shut her up. He's allowed her to stay until the morning of the press conference.

She leaves tomorrow.

"How do you think it's going to go?" Ari asks softly.

"Don't know," Lina says with a tinge of annoyance. "I just wish they would let me go to the fragging thing instead of watching it on the news like everyone else."

"It's better for you this way, so you can stay out of the media's spotlight."

"I seem to remember already being in the spotlight. I was in that footage the Fallen blasted everywhere too, you know."

"Yeah, but he didn't give everyone your name and Social Security Number. Unlike me, you have a good chance of regaining your anonymity."

"Oh, please. I'm a hacker. Everything I don't want anyone else to know I've already gotten rid of."

"Not everything can stay a secret, Lina. That's the point of why we're doing this and exposing secrets is practically your reason for being. Just trust me." She takes Lina's hand, squeezes. "It's better this way."

Lina sighs as she scoops up some more M&M's. "So I get off scotch free while you're thrown to the wolves."

"This was always going to happen. That's why I'm a political science major. I want to be the Autobot Ambassador. Being front and center in the media is just an unpleasant side-effect that I'll have to get used to." Although it'll be hard. She's been a wallflower her entire life. No one ever noticed her at school. Being the center of attention isn't something she easily deals with, but she'll have to. She's overcome a lot over the past few years. She can handle this, too.

"Everything will be fine," Sideswipe says, taking Ari's hand and lacing their fingers together. "And you won't be doing it alone this time. We'll all be with you."

She grips his hand tightly, so glad he will be with her tomorrow. The guest list is huge. They need as many people to see this as possible so T.V. and newspaper reporters from all over the world were invited. It's such short notice for them, usually something like this is put into the books months in advance, but they don't have the luxury of time. They have to stamp on the bad publicity as soon as possible. The short time frame hasn't left them with a shortage of attendees though. The event description was kept pretty vague, don't want to ruin the surprise, but with enough bait on the hook to reel in well over a hundred people, if only out of curiosity. A hundred people she's going to have to stand in front of and talk to. Her stomach is already turning into knots.

"Hey, can we scare the slag out of them like we did the first recruits?" Sunny asks, sounding like he's only half kidding.

Ari laughs. "I'd love that but I hardly think Fury would find it very amusing."

" _I_ would find it amusing," Lina says, "And this sounds like an amusing story. Tell me, tell me."

As Sunstreaker begins to tell Lina of the speech Ari gave when the base first opened, Sideswipe whispers to her, "You should get some sleep."

"I don't know if I can," Ari whispers back. So many thoughts and worries are floating around in her head like a loud buzzing in her ears. Sleep is definitely going to be elusive tonight.

Sideswipe pulls her closer until she is pressed into his side with an arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest. A blush creeps up her neck, not used to physical displays of affection yet besides handholding and the occasional hug, but after a few moments she relaxes into his touch, placing an arm across his chest to hold him in return. She sighs deeply, thinking back to a time when this much contact with anyone would have had her running away screaming. Gratitude makes her cling to him just a little bit more.

He places a kiss on top of her head. "Just try, okay?"

"Okay," she mumbles, her voice betraying just how tired she really is. Instead of a heartbeat, she can hear the steady thrum of Sideswipe's spark in her ear and she closes her eyes, listening to its comforting noise and the voices of her friends until she slips into welcoming sleep.

* * *

The next day, Ari runs a shaky hand along the skirt of her dress as she stares out the window of the S.U.V., looking at the passing scenery without really seeing it, which is a shame since she still hasn't had a chance to see much of D.C. But that's not much of a concern right now. Right now, she's trying not to freak out. She's wearing a white peasant dress that cuts off just below the knees and a pair of sandals that buckle at the heels. Her hair is left loose to flow down her back in waves. She didn't even know Romanoff was back until the agent knocked on her door that morning, helping her get ready with the same intensity and attention to detail as last time. The sexy secretary look isn't what they're going for this time though. This time Romanoff says the image Ari needs to project is one of innocence and purity. Ari needs to gain the trust of everyone in the world so that when she tells them that the Autobots come in peace they'll be more inclined to believe her.

But for some reason she keeps thinking that she looks like a virgin maiden about to be sacrificed to the ferocious dragon.

Now Ari sits in a S.H.I.E.L.D. issued S.U.V. on her way to the press conference, Coulson behind the wheel, Fury in the passenger seat, and Defense Secretary Keller sitting in the back next to her. They're just minutes away from the Washington Monument, where the conference will be held. Just minutes away from the speech that will change the world. No one from S.H.I.E.L.D. will be speaking at the conference, not even Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a "secret" agency, after all, that has to keep its distance, the only ones in the public eye at all being those on the security detail. Still didn't keep Fury and Coulson from coming though. No, the only ones who will be speaking today are Ari herself, some of the Autobots, and Keller, who will be introducing her. The President of the United States wanted to have some part in it, he even tried to convince Fury to have the press conference on the White House lawn, but Ari convinced Fury to decline. This isn't about just the United States. The Autobots aren't owned by them and N.E.S.T. is a worldwide organization with several different countries playing key parts in its operation. But the U.S. does have the majority interest which is why the conference is still being held in the capitol. It was difficult finding a place that S.H.I.E.L.D. can easily control but big enough for the Autobots to transform when they say hi to the world, essentially cutting out all indoor venues, but the Washington Monument is surrounded by a huge lawn with lots of wide-open space. Anyway, the only reason a U.S. government official is speaking at this thing at all is because someone needs to introduce her instead of a previously wanted fugitive just walking on stage and Keller is considered a friend of the Autobots, someone who was there in the very beginning.

Coulson's phone chirps twice with an incoming message and he pulls it out to check it, car staying perfectly in the center of the lane. "That was one of the agents escorting Ms. Spitz home," he says as he slips the phone back inside his jacket pocket. "She made it back to college just fine."

"That's good," she says absently, eyes never leaving the window. Lina's securely out of the line of fire. Now it's time for Ari to face it. "How far out are we?"

"We're just about there," Fury answers. "About five minutes out. When we arrive, you and Secretary Keller will exit the vehicle, Keller going on stage to do his part while you, Lennox, and Epps wait at the base of the stairs. We'll continue on with the Autobots to park and watch from a distance. Then it's all up to you."

Ari nods, grasping her pendant tightly and turning in her seat to see Sideswipe and the rest of the Autobots following behind them. Primus, how is she supposed to do this? She used to believe that using her voice, speaking out, would only ever get her into trouble. Now she's going to try to use it to change the world. But will her one, small voice really make a difference? Will it really be enough to help the world believe in the Autobots?

They come to a stop at a barricade set up about a block from the conference. Curious onlookers crane their heads trying to get a look at what is going on down at the monument but agents wearing black shirts with "Security" written in white block letters across the front keep anyone from passing. One of the men approaches the car and Coulson rolls his window down. With one nod from Fury the man waves them through.

She wipes her sweaty palms on her dress again.

"Don't worry, Ms. Lennox," Secretary Keller says with a reassuring smile. "You'll do great."

She tries to return the smile but feels that she doesn't quite make it. "Thank you, Secretary Keller. Good Luck."

"To you as well." With that the car stops next to the stage and they're getting out, Ari first with Keller right behind her. Ironhide stops to let out Will and Rob, both in formal military attire. The three of them stop at the side of the stage while Keller goes on ahead, squeezing her shoulder as he passes and climbing the stairs to the rising applause of the audience.

Ari doesn't hear any of Keller's words carried across the grounds by the microphone, only the rapid beating of her own heart, reminding herself with every breath she takes that she can do this. She _can_ do this. And she won't be doing this alone. The Autobots are just down the road with Coulson and Fury. They have stood by her decision to do this. They will stand with her today, just as she will stand with them. No matter which way this goes.

And then she hears Keller say her name and there's more applause though nowhere near as much as before because everyone is still really confused. But not for much longer. Keller told them she's no longer a fugitive, that she's here to clear up some things about recent global events and her part in them and there are some people she's going to introduce them to but the world certainly does not see this coming.

The afternoon sunlight is bright as she climbs the stairs keeping her head forward, chin held high. Keller still stands at the podium, giving her a small, encouraging smile, and they shake hands before he goes to take a seat off to the side. With a deep breath she finally faces the crowd, the Washington Monument towering over them all behind her like a white sentinel. Over a hundred people sit in chairs before her with dozens of news cameras, flashing cameras taking her picture, and a microphone placed in a stand in front of the podium. Off to her right are the Autobots and seeing them gives her some peace of mind. Licking her dry lips she looks out on the crowd again. They're all about to have their minds blown. But it's not just them. The entire world is watching her right now. And it's up to her to do this as gently as possible.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," she says into the mic, Romanoff's advice on speeches echoing in her head. Speak clearly. Make sure to use proper pronunciation. Do not use contractions. Keep eye contact with the audience. Don't move around a lot; just keep calm and still. Remember to breathe. "My name is Ari Lennox, though after the broadcast last week I am sure you all already know that. I know that broadcast has left you all with a lot of questions. I have come before you today to answer them." She lets out a shaky breath. "What I am about to tell you will be shocking. It may even cause a little fear. But I want you to know before there is no turning back that everything is going to be okay.

"That being said, I will cut to the chase. The broadcast from last week where a figure took credit for several attacks that happened in major cities around the world: That was real. That figure was real. He was not Photoshopped, there were no special effects. It was all real." Mumbles ripple throughout the crowd and the people start to look a little uneasy. "That figure was an alien."

The crowd explodes in a cacophony of voices, all of the reporters shouting their questions at once. She holds up a calming hand. "People," she tries to raise her voice to be heard, "people, please." Slowly the crowd settles into silence as she grips the podium tightly with both hands. "I know you are confused but if you will just allow me, I will explain. Yes, this was an alien attack, both the events depicted in the broadcast and the incident a few days later in Egypt that led to the destruction of a pyramid. You have known for months now that we are not alone in the universe, but this was not the same as the Chitauri. It is important that you understand that. Not only was this a different species from an entirely different planet, but not all of them were here to harm us. Some of them are our allies and fought alongside us."

From there, she goes on to explain who the Cybertronians are, where they're from, and how their war has divided them into Autobots and Decepticons. She tells them about Mission City, her involvement, what brought the Cybertronians to this planet, and how the world leaders allowed the Autobots to stay on Earth both so that they could help eliminate any lingering Decepticon threats and to make this their new home. She introduces them to Will and Rob and explains N.E.S.T. She tells them how the Decepticons have picked themselves up again then launched their attack for a new reason this time, to destroy the Sun. She tells them why the Decepticons wanted her, or at least a bended version of the truth not involving the AllSpark.

She tells them everything. All of the secrets the government has been keeping from them involving Cybertronians. She completely levels with the world until there is nothing left hidden in the closet and all she can do now is hope for the best.

Standing next to the podium is a small table with a bottle of water resting on top and Ari pauses briefly to take a long swallow. That was the past two years condensed in roughly thirty minutes. Hopefully, the world is understanding. Understanding enough to be calm about what they're fixing to see next. She takes the wireless microphone off of the stand and moves away from the podium. She always worries about this next part when doing this with recruits, always dreading the worst will happen, but her nervousness is multiplied by a thousand now. If there's panic here it will be chaos. But there's no use worrying about that now so she nods towards Sideswipe and his engine comes to life, a loud roar booming across the wide expanse. As Sideswipe approaches the side of the stage Ari says, "I have with me today all of the Autobots who are currently on Earth. I will introduced you to one now, the first one I ever met." She takes a deep breath. "Do not be afraid. He means you no harm." She then sets the mic down on the stage, descends the stairs, and sits down on Sideswipe's hood.

Sideswipe whirls and then he's moving beneath her, his parts shifting and unfolding as he transforms until Ari ends up on his shoulder. Thankfully, Romanoff had the foresight to give her spandex shorts to wear under her dress or else this would have been kind of awkward. They watch the crowd silently and she can tell he's holding his breath just like she is. Everyone's gaping at them. A few people have even stood from their seats. There's a lot of fear and uncertainty. She can practically feel it permeating from the entire world as everyone gets their first good look at an alien that isn't from shaky filming or of an alien trying to kill people. But how do they really know this alien won't kill them? It all depends on their trust in her and that probably isn't very much yet, even with the Defense Secretary on her side. They'll have to build up that trust pretty fast. The best way to do that is through action, so she taps on Sideswipe's shoulder and he carries out step two of their plan. He reaches down, Ari still perfectly balanced on his shoulder, and gently picks up the mic still lying on the stage floor with his thumb and forefinger, handing it to her without breaking it, not even the smallest crack.

Operation Show the World the Autobots Won't Hurt Anyone and Are Really Quite Gentle has three steps. Step One: Sideswipe transforms with Ari on top of him, show people she's unafraid of being so close to them. Step two: show people that even though they are strong and can cause a lot of destruction they are still very capable of reeling that strength in. Step three: Pray to Primus no one starts freaking out.

"Everyone," Ari says calmly into the microphone, her voice shaking the crowd out of their stupor, "if you would please retake your seats that would be appreciated." No one moves. "Please, I promise you, you are in no danger." People sit back down, though a little uneasily. Ari and Sides start to breathe again. So far, so good. At least no one bolted. Or screamed. Or had a panic attack. Though it's still early. "I would like you to meet Sideswipe. As I said, he is the first Autobot I ever met. And he is a very dear friend."

Ari places a hand on the back of his head and he leans into the touch just enough for her to feel without anyone else noticing. They both know Sideswipe is so much more to her than a friend now. And she is so much more than a friend to him. They haven't had a lot of time to talk about it yet, S.H.I.E.L.D. not really believing in the thing called privacy. But they will. They're still both sure of their feelings, at least, Ari is. She doesn't know about Sideswipe, still having a hard time believing he could possibly love her in return, but as soon as this is over and they're back home again they can figure all of that out.

Sideswipe waves a hand to the audience in greeting. "Hi. Nice to meet ya. Like Ari said, my name's Sideswipe, or Sides for short. I'm a frontrunner for the Autobots." He shrugs the shoulder Ari isn't perched on. "Speed is kind of my thing."

He wanted to show them his blades, like he usually does with the recruits, but it was decided that it probably wouldn't be the best idea.

Still, he gets a few shaky chuckles and people's shoulders relax a little. It's different, seeing an alien fighting on a screen and then seeing one right in front of them, speaking English, smiling and trying to get others to smile with him. Just like a human would do.

Ari waves in Optimus after that. Eyes go a little big at, well, how fragging big he is, which isn't surprising, but again, no riots. They listen as he tells them who he is and reassures them that the Autobots are here to help, his deep, soothing voice resonating throughout the crowd to create a calm. The affect Optimus's voice has on people never ceases to amaze Ari, the absolute feelings of trust and peace it can bring. It quiets the fear and eases the anxiety for when the rest of the Autobots introduce themselves. When it's time for all of the reporters gathered to have the opportunity to ask the Autobots questions, they aren't so nervous anymore. Ari sits with a small smile atop Sideswipe's shoulder while Keller retakes the microphone to direct the questioning.

At first, the questions stay curious about the Autobots, a lot like when Ari first found out Sideswipe was alive. But of course, that wasn't going to last.

"Secretary Keller," one man speaks out. "It looks like we're all beating around the bush here so I'm just going to ask the question I'm sure everyone here wants to ask: Why has this been kept a secret from us? We had a right to know and a right to have a say in whether or not the Autobots be allowed to stay on Earth. In light of recent events, what if the majority of the human race wants them gone?"

Anger boils inside Ari's stomach, fists clenching at her sides. How can he say that, after everything? She tries to keep her temper contained but never has a human annoyed her as much as now. Or disappointed her. Not since Ron, and that's probably including Galloway. Keller adjusts the microphone in the stand nervously but before he can say anything Ari has Sides place her back on the stage and she touches his shoulder. "Let me," she says too low for the microphone to pick up her voice. He nods, surprised at the fury she can feel burning in her eyes, and steps back for her to take his place at the podium, this time without a shred of fear.

"Have you not been listening to a word I've said?" she asks, all of Romanoff's advice flying out of her head as she allows her emotions to carry her away. "The Autobots are not at fault here! They didn't destroy our cities or kill our people, and they aren't the reason why the Decepticons have done so. The Decepticons first came to Earth looking for the AllSpark, which could have ended up on any planet. But it didn't, it landed here, and it's thanks to the Autobots that the Decepticons didn't get ahold of it. And this time, everything leading up to Egypt, that wasn't their fault either. If anything, it's mine." She swallows heavily, guilt constricting her to the point of pain, as she thinks of all of the things she could have, _should_ have, done differently. "The Decepticons did all of those things in an effort to get to me. That is a weight that I will always carry, every day. But if the Decepticons did get what I knew, then they would have found the Matrix and activated the sun harvester before anyone even realized we needed to go to Egypt. Then the planet would have become a hunk of ice-cold rock and everything would have been dead because our sun would have been destroyed. But that didn't happen, because the Autobots were here to defeat them. So don't you dare sit there and say that the Autobots shouldn't be allowed to stay because none of us would be here if not for them. They saved us. That should earn them a home, or, at the very least, our respect."

The crowd is silent, everyone looking morose, even the reporter who spoke before. Ari can't tell how far her words have penetrated but they seem to understand. At least, for now.

"What happens now?" someone asks, towards the back of the group.

She takes in a deep breath, calming herself down from her rant. "The Decepticons have lost this battle but the war is far from over. They will be back and when they are, we will be waiting."

"We? What do you plan to contribute?"

"I know most of you just see me as a kid, brought up here to help soften the blow, but I am more than just the person who has known them the longest or best. I always plan on fighting beside them, whatever may come, but I also plan on standing between them and you as Autobot Ambassador." She can't keep the glare off of her face, lingering longest on the reporter who spoke against the Autobots. "I know there must be no little amount of fear and even hate towards the Autobots right now and I hope to one day be able to ease that to where both of our species will be able to live together in peace."

"Do you really think you'll be able to do that?" someone else asks.

"I don't know," she says, solemn but truthful, the reporter speaking Ari's own fear and uncertainty. "But I am willing to try. I am going to one of the best colleges in the country and I have the best people teaching me what I need to know to become Ambassador. But I cannot do this on my own. Everyone listening, the entire world, needs to be willing to try with me. Please, try with me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta say, this chapter gave me a bit of trouble. I wasn't sure how to make this go down but I think I like where it turned out. If I got anything wrong with how press conferences work then I'm sorry. XD
> 
> I hope you liked the bit of AriXSides fluff I added in. Next chapter we start delving into the changes in their relationship more.
> 
> Next chapter will still be Friday.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	40. Vulnerable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, as promised.
> 
> I really like this one. Lots of fluff. And the plot twists!
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

As soon as the press conference is over they head home. Ari was afraid someone would fight them on it but Coulson just calls for a plane to be prepared for them and tells them to have a safe flight.

"You've done enough for now," he says, "and there's not much else that can be done. Not until people calm down and we get an idea of how everyone is going to handle this in the long run. For now, be with your family. Recover. Go back to school. If we need you again, we'll contact you."

So they go home. Ari and Will allow Sarah to fuss over them, cooking them their favorite foods as she tries to get her worries and fears for them to dissipate. Rob and the other soldiers take a leave as well, with all of the Autobots staying at the farmhouse. The relief is almost palpable. It's over. They made it. They won.

This time.

But whatever hole the Decepticons crawled back to is a problem for another day. Right now, there are other things Ari wants to think about.

The first night they're back Ari and Sideswipe go out into the field, Sunstreaker staying behind to give them some privacy. So much changed over the course of a week. Just like last time. Last time, Ari found out about the existence of aliens, gained new friends, got away from her father, and became the AllSpark. This time, Ari found love.

But what's going to happen to them? How can they possibly make this work? It's a conversation that's been long overdue and one they're finally going to have. To figure all of this out, together.

Sideswipe sits on the ground with his knees bent in front of him, placing Ari sitting facing him on top of one knee. He lifts a hand to cup around her, the warmth of his metal seeping through her clothes, into her skin, keeping the cold at bay, a support and comfort to lean on. For the longest time they stay silent, staring at the stars above them that they haven't been able to see without glaring city lights for a while. She traces each constellation with her eyes, naming them, as she tries to will her nerves to calm down before they jump out of her skin. She almost wishes they could delay this conversation for just a little bit longer, afraid of the outcome, but she chastises herself. There's no use running from this. Whether they're still together at the end of this or not, they won't be able to move on until this is done.

So with a deep breath Ari takes the first plunge, "Do you still mean it? What you said?"

His optics shoot to her in surprise. "Of course I do. I love you, Ari. Do you…not believe me?"

"It's just it's…." She leans her head against the fingers around her, not wanting to state what they both know is true. "It's hard to believe. When I know it shouldn't be possible. I mean, Cybertronians aren't capable of falling in love with humans, at least, you shouldn't be. You have a sparkmate out there somewhere, Sides, some Cybertronian who you're supposed to be with. So how can you say that you love me when any love you could possibly feel for me will never be anywhere near what you will feel for your sparkmate someday?"

"When I first realized that I love you," he says slowly, thinking through each word carefully before he speaks. "I wasn't sure what to do. I was thinking the same things you are. I knew it was impossible and I swore to myself that I would never act on my feelings. But I couldn't just make them go away so I asked Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet for help. I asked Optimus and Ironhide how they felt, when they first met Elita-One and Chromia. They said it was as if, before, they were in the deepest, darkest depths of space. Nothing around them. No sure direction of where they were going. Just floating in an endless abyss. Then all of a sudden they could feel it, a tugging, as if a planet or a star had captured them in its gravitational field. They could feel it in their very sparks, calling out to them. And they couldn't help but follow. When they realized what was pulling them in, they saw and felt something so immensely beautiful that life was given new meaning. And they were no longer alone." His thumb strokes along the side of her face, causing her to shiver at the feeling and the intensity burning in his optics. "That's how I feel when I look at you, Ari. You give my life new meaning. I see the world, the universe, in a different way, a better way. And though I have never been alone because of my brother, being with you, it's different. I just want to stay in your presence and never leave. I can feel my spark calling out to you, Ari. To _you_."

"But what if you're just…feeling things? I mean, this is something you've never experienced before so how can you know for sure?"

"There's a way to tell if two bots are sparkmates. Their sparks literally reach out for each other, wanting to make the bond, in a way that Ratchet's scanners can pick up. My spark is reaching for you."

She's still not entirely convinced. It just shouldn't be possible. "Are you sure it's really me?"

Sideswipe nods. "Ratchet checked to see if it was just Moonracer or Arcee or some other bot out there not on Earth yet but it's not. It's you."

"Is that…healthy? It can never actually make the connection so is it okay for it to keep reaching like that?"

"Ratchet says that it's not reaching as strongly as it normally would. He said it's as if I've met you and then you had to go away before the bond was made. Like my spark isn't near you now but now it knows who you are and that you're out there somewhere."

Ari's face falls into her hands. "What does it mean?" she asks, voice muffled. "I'm human. The AllSpark changed a lot about me but nothing to make bonding possible, so what does it mean?"

"I don't know. But Optimus thinks it means Primus has plans for us. Just not yet."

"Either way," her hands fall to her lap and she looks up at him through the sweep of her bangs, "are you sure you want to be with someone like me? We're so different, completely different species, and even if I live to an exceptionally long age I will never live as long as you."

Sideswipe lifts her chin up with one of his fingers so she's forced to look up at him and he leans in closer to her. "I would rather spend one human lifetime loving you with all that I am than spending that time being with you and not able to love you at all." He lowers his hand and leans back, looking away from her slightly. "What about you? Like you said, I'm really different than a human. I'm big, metal, and I can never give you the sort of things a normal human can."

"You know I don't care about the size difference." She gestures to the two of them and their current position. "There's your holoform anyway. But I've said it before, I like being with _this_ you, the _real_ you, more. I would rather spend the afternoon on your shoulder than with your holoform on the couch."

"What about having a family of your own?" he asks quietly. "I'll never be able to give you children."

Her cheeks heat up at what he's implying, suddenly feeling very awkward, but it's normal for couples to talk about the physical stuff, right? "I'm not sure I _can_ ever be with a human physically, not after…everything. Your holoform is easier to be with than anyone else. We might be able to do some things normal couples do whenever you're in holoform, but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to," she licks her lips, forcing herself to push past her nervousness and embarrassment, "t-to have sex with anyone, even you." She sighs, rubbing a hand across her face. "Besides, that's kind of a moot point."

"What do you mean?"

Her hand pauses before it's fully down her face and she groans internally. This is a subject she had been hoping to avoid, but she lets her hand drop to her lap again and trudges through. "This is something I've never told anyone, mostly because I'm not really sure how to. Only Ratchet and Optimus knows, not even my parents. But, well, the AllSpark, there's more to the changes than Ratchet told you or anyone else." Sideswipe's optic ridges rise in surprise and concern and she decides to just rip off the band-aid. "I can't get pregnant."

His mouth drops open. "You can't get pregnant?"

She shakes her head sadly. "I haven't even had my period since I was changed. Ratchet thinks that the AllSpark saw the whole process of pregnancy as being too much of a vulnerability. So it eliminated it, just like everything else."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ratchet said the AllSpark has changed the way my body works to compensate."

"Ari," he says, leaning down so his face is level with hers, "you know that's not what I meant."

She looks down at her lap, sadness filling her, making her chest heavy. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it before, I'm too young and not even ready for kids, you know? But when I found out it's not even an option anymore…." She shakes her head. "And when I spend time with Annabelle, taking care of her, playing with her, watching her grow up. I think maybe I would have wanted kids."

The backs of Sideswipe's fingers stroke her cheek and she closes her eyes as he catches the tears. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Nothing anyone can do about it now."

"Ari." She feels him press his forehead to hers. "Don't pretend. Please. Not with me."

More tears come and she nods, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck. His arms envelope her, lifting her up, hand pressed to the back of her head, and she buries her face in the warm metal where his neck and shoulder meet. No, it's not alright. She would have wanted kids. She really would have. But she will never have a little bump in her stomach or a beautiful baby in her arms. She'll never see her son or daughter, or son and daughter, grow up, go to school, smile. She won't be able to give her children the things she wishes she had when she was young. She won't be able to love them and be loved by them in return.

But if she had been able to have children, would that have made it harder for her to be with Sideswipe? To deny herself that family?

"I love you, Sideswipe," she says, her voice still a little choked from crying. "I love you. I'm sad that I can't have kids, but you," she leans back from him, holding his faceplates in her hands, "so long as I have you, that's all I need."

He smiles softly at her. "You're all I need, too. I love you."

Ari smiles back and happiness fills her chest, pushing out the sadness and pain. And she knows. Knows that even though he thinks she'd be better off with a human and she thinks his real sparkmate is still probably out there somewhere, that they can still make this work. Because they love each other. They really do. And that's all they need. So without any hesitation she inches her face forward, closes her eyes, and presses her lips to his. At first it's kind of weird. His mouth, his entire head, is three times bigger than hers. And he's metal. His lips don't mold to hers like fleshy, human lips, but they are warm. And when he presses against her, kissing her back, her heart flips in her chest but it's not just some cheesy metaphor middle schoolers use. There's a lightness in her chest that's almost familiar to her. It's like that feeling she gets sometimes from Sideswipe's spark. An inkling of emotion. Except now it's more than just an inkling. It's easier to name what each emotion is. She can really feel Sideswipe's emotions, his worry for her after what she told him, his happiness that she's willing to be with him despite everything. His love for her. They part suddenly, looking at each other in surprise.

Ari presses a hand to her lips. "Did you…."

"Feel that?" Sideswipe finishes. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. It's like what I feel through the bond with my brother, I could feel someone's emotions, but they weren't Sunny's. Not as strong either. I think they were yours."

"I felt something, too." Her hand lowers from her mouth to brush along her AllSpark marks. "I could feel you, too. What does it mean?"

Sideswipe grins, a finger skimming along the side of her face. "I think it means everything's gonna be okay." Then he leans in to kiss her again.

* * *

A few days later Ari sits contentedly curled in the seat of Sideswipe's alt mode as he drives her back to school. Will and Sarah tried to convince her to take off a few more days but she doesn't want to get any further behind in her studies than she already is. Though she's loved the downtime with everyone, especially Sideswipe, she can't take much more of Skids and Mudflap cracking jokes at their relationship. Plus, Lina has been calling every day asking when she's coming back. She does miss her roommate.

Things have been going good between her and Sideswipe though. So far, their differences haven't hindered them at all. If anything, it's made them stronger. But it's not like they've been able to test the limits of that. Everyone's been really supportive of them, even Sarah, who Ari was kind of worried about. She shouldn't have been. Sarah did a little happy dance when she found out. Difficulties will be sure to come, though, but they'll be facing them together when they do. Like what happens when they kiss. Every time they do it they can feel what each other is feeling. It has Ratchet completely baffled, for once, but he can assure them that nothing harmful happens to either of them when they do it. So they keep kissing, repeatedly, since it's definitely something they both enjoy, even if kissing isn't something Cybertronians normally do to show affection. Hence the joking from the smaller twins and the wanting to go back to college.

Her and Sides haven't tried anything with his holoform yet besides small stuff like handholding. That is something they'll have to take very, very slowly. But they're doing this. They're really doing this.

"And we're back," Sideswipe says as they pull into the school. "Think we can go longer than two days without blowing it up this time?"

"I don't know," Ari says, looking around at the construction going on as they drive past, especially at the library. They're working hard at getting that hole in the wall filled while still preserving the historical look of the building. The dorm where Ari lives is mostly done though and all of the rubble is gone. "We don't seem to have a very good track record when it comes to schools. But my high school was only attacked once so we might be in the clear now."

"Or that means it'll be hit twice."

::Does that mean the base will be hit three times,:: Sunny asks as the twins park side by side, ::just to keep the pattern going?::

"Don't say that," Ari groans. "You'll jinx us."

::Oh, please, you know we're already jinxed. It's only a matter of time before something bad happens again.::

"Any chances we'll get a warning next time?" Sides asks, sounding half kidding, half genuinely hopeful.

"Not likely." Ari opens the door. "You guys want to come up?"

"Optimus wanted Sunny to do a patrol around the city as soon as we got here so we'll meet you when he gets back."

"Kay. See you later then." The three of them part ways and Ari heads into the school, having to walk around the science building since the parking lot they usually use is the one Sides and Barricade fought in and is still currently overrun with workers. As she's just about to round the building to go into the courtyard her phone rings and she pulls it out of her back pocket. Seeing it's Lina she answers with a smile. "Yes, I'm back already. We just pulled in. I'll be up in a few minutes."

"What?" Lina squawks. "No! You need to do an about-face, now!"

Ari slows her step at the panic apparent in Lina's voice. "Why? What's wrong?"

There could have been a lot of answers to that question. Drunk frat boys, the dean of the school wanting to kick her out after everything, a Decepticon attack. But what Ari sees as the courtyard comes into view is so not what she's expecting.

There is a large group of reporters standing between her and her building that wasn't there before.

"What the frag?"

"I don't know," Lina says and Ari can see her coming out the front door of the dorm. They're eyes find each other's within seconds and Lina's are filled with worry, confusion, and anger. "But they're here for you because of the press conference thing. All I gotta say is that whoever blabbed about where you go to school better pray S.H.I.E.L.D. gets to them before I do. I'm pretty sure that stuff isn't public knowledge and schools aren't allowed to give away that information."

Ari shakes her head slowly in disbelief, unsure what to do, when one of the reporters spots her.

"There she is!" he shouts, pointing right at her.

All of their heads turn to her at once and her eyes widen. She slips her phone back into her pocket, taking a step back, but it's much too late for a retreat now. The crowd descends on her, swallowing her up until there is a thick barrier of reporters surrounding her. She instantly pushes the yellow button on her pendant as unstoppable panic consumes her, lungs starting to hyperventilate, body recoiling at so many strangers being so close to her, cameras and microphones shoved in her face, but there's nowhere to go. Everyone's shouting questions at her until they're just a mass of indecipherable voices, but she hears the shout of her name above it all. Her head swivels around until she finds Sideswipe's holoform trying to push his way through the crowd but they're too packed together and no one will let him through. She looks at him pleadingly. Then she's jostled as someone shoves their microphone closer to her and she flinches away violently, only to run into more people and get shoved around more and more, claustrophobia mounting higher and higher, until she latches onto her pendant and pushes the red button.

An angry rev is the only warning they get before there's a rumbling in the concrete beneath their feet and Sideswipe comes out from behind the science building rushing straight for them. The reporters see him and it's their turn to panic. They scream, finally backing away from her. Sideswipe catches her before her knees give out and now she's surrounded in his arms. She clings to him, closing her eyes tight, as she tries to force the panic away.

"What is wrong with you?" Sideswipe snaps at the reporters, trying to contain his anger because they're already terrified of him but she knows a part of him is more concerned with protecting her. "Can't you see you're scaring her?"

Before anyone has time to react Sideswipe backs up on his wheels, transforms so Ari is placed in his driver's seat, and races away, Sunstreaker joining them soon after. She curls up on her side, feet on the seat, knees tucked beneath her chin, and her face pressed into the headrest. She breathes in the smell of leather deep into her lungs, focusing on the familiarity of it and the seatbelt that clicks into place tightly around her. Everything's okay now. She's away from them. They can't suffocate her anymore. Can't trap her anymore. Like he did.

"Ari, you okay?" Sideswipe asks, his voice sounding closer than the radio and she looks up to see his holoform sitting next to her. Instantly, she recoils from him, pressing her back into the door. Hurt flashes across his face, quickly gone as he covers it up, and her heart drops to her already queasy stomach.

"I'm sorry," she whimpers, "I'm sorry, just…It's too much at once. Just…give me a minute."

She screws her eyes shut tight, focusing on her breathing. In through her nose, out through her mouth. In. Out. Letting the panic and anxiety flow out with her breath, picturing it like a puff of smoke, until her heart calms and her muscles unlock. Slowly she opens her eyes again. Sideswipe's holoform still sits there, watching her worriedly but waiting to see what she wants. Uncurling herself, she reaches out to grasp his hand firmly in hers, proving both to him and herself that she still can.

"Sorry," she whispers. "I didn't want to, I just…."

"It's okay." His thumb traces lazy patters on the back of her hand, so feather-light that she almost can't feel it. Gentle. Soothing. Not like Ron would be. "It's not your fault."

"I just thought that, after everything, it would be better by now. At least with you."

"I know," Sideswipe says quietly, "but what he did to you can't ever be erased. It can get better, but it will probably always be a part of you."

"Even with you?"

"Even with me. That's why we're taking this," he squeezes her hand, "slow. Maybe sometimes you won't be able to let me get close to you, but maybe over time it won't happen so much anymore. Maybe one day I'll be able to help you get through a crowd like that and you'll let me."

The thought makes Ari smile. She doesn't want to be afraid of Sideswipe's holoform. And maybe one day, as their love brings them closer and closer together, it won't be so bad anymore, like he says. She will hope for it, work towards it, so she unbuckles herself and slips across the center console to sit in his lap. He draws her closer to his chest with her head tucked beneath his chin.

"There," she says, "better already."

He chuckles. "Told you. So where to now?"

"Back home, I guess. I definitely can't go back to school. Not now anyway."

"It's probably for the best. Your red alert kind of scared everyone."

Oops. "They're not already halfway to us, are they? I didn't mean to freak them out or pull a false alarm or anything. I just didn't know what else to do."

"It's okay, Ari. I already told them what happened and they understand. You did the right thing."

Did she though? Sideswipe revealed his true form in public all because of her. All because she couldn't handle being surrounded by so many people. They were scared of him when the fear of the Decepticons is still so fresh in everyone's minds. After how far they've come with the press conference in making things better between humans and Cybertronians, how much good did she just undo? But there's no use thinking such thoughts so she just snuggles against Sideswipe, closes her eyes, and relaxes into the feeling of safety surrounding her.

* * *

::Hey, who's car is that?:: Sunstreaker's voice penetrates the light sleep Ari had drifted into and her eyes crack open. They're back at the farmhouse. And there's a dark green Porsche convertible sitting next to the alt modes of the other Autobots. They stop next to it, unsure what to do.

"It's not an Autobot, is it?" Ari asks.

::No, it is not,:: Optimus's voice comes in through the Comm Link. ::It arrived almost a joor ago. A human woman exited the vehicle and knocked on the door. Sarah and Will let her inside and she has not exited since.::

::We've been monitoring the house closely,:: Ironhide says. ::There appears to be no trouble. Yet. But I don't like this. Not one bit. I say we storm the place.::

Ari rolls her eyes. "No, 'Hide, don't storm the place. It's probably just a friend of theirs or something. I'll go check it out and let you know what's up with the pendant."

Sideswipe opens his door for her and helps her to get out. "You be careful, okay? I think I'm with Ironhide on this one. Something doesn't feel right."

"I'll be fine." She gives his hand one last squeeze and then heads towards the house, wondering who this guest is and what would keep her here for almost an hour. It could just be a really good friend. Considering Sarah's tendency for chatter that could definitely keep someone here for a while. But she trusts the Autobots' instincts. They're usually spot on. And Ari doesn't know any of their friends who could afford such an expensive car. She goes inside the house, apprehension thick in the air.

"Ari?" Sarah calls out, voice coming from the living room so Ari heads that way. "Ari, is that you?"

"Yeah," she answers, stopping just inside the doorway. Sarah and Will are sitting on the love seat, both with smiles plastered on their faces but their smiles don't reach their eyes. Ari's eyes fly to the woman sitting on the sofa perpendicular to them, facing away from her. She's a slender woman with long reddish-brown hair and an expensive looking blue dress. There's something oddly familiar about her.

"You okay, Ari?" Will asks. "The…we heard that you ran into a little trouble at school."

Ari tears her eyes away from the woman. "Yeah, but I'm okay now. We'll have to talk to Phil before I can go back though." Will nods and then everyone is awkwardly silent with words waiting to be said but no one wants to say them. All because of this woman. "Who's your guest?"

"This is, ah…." Sarah fidgets nervously. "Well, there's no way for _us_ to be sure since we've never seen what she looks like, but you probably know, and, well…she…she claims to be…."

"Arianna?" the woman says, her high voice piercing through Ari's chest. She knows that voice, from the distant recesses of her memories, but the AllSpark makes it easy to remember the voice of the woman who used to sing her to sleep. The woman stands and turns and Ari realizes why the hair was so familiar to her and the big, light blue eyes looking back at her are familiar too. "Arianna, is that you?" The woman steps around the sofa to approach her, arms spread wide and eyes brimming with tears. "Oh, baby, I've missed you so much."

Before the woman can hug her Ari steps away from her in revulsion, back pressed against the wall of the hallway. Her breath feels trapped in her lungs and she can't breathe. Why? Why now, after all this time, has she come back? How did she even know where Ari is? It's one thing people finding out where she goes to school but where she lives? How? And why would she even care enough to come? Hurt and betrayal and years of grief well up inside of her, making her legs feel wobbly and her vision blurry.

"Arianna?" the woman asks, confusion and her own hurt crossing her face. She lowers her arms slowly. "Arianna, it's me. It's your-"

"No," Ari spits out horsely. "You stay away from me." With the woman standing between her and the front door she runs towards the stairs. She can hear the woman calling after her but she just keeps going until she is in her room and locks herself inside. Tears start to spill down her face and she leans against the far wall, as far away from the woman knocking on her door as possible. Before she can fall down she uses the support of the wall to slide down until she is sitting on the floor. She feels like she's going to be sick. She bites down hard on her lip, putting her head between her knees. This can't be happening. This just can't be happening.

"Ari?" Never has she been so happy to hear Sideswipe's voice. The knot in her chest loosens just a fraction. She doesn't have to face this alone.

She tries to tell him to come in, for only him to come in, but she can't even get his name out through her sobs. Everything just hurts so much. But before she can even try to calm herself down enough to go to the door he materializes his holoform in the room with her. His eyes widen in surprise when he sees her and he steps closer to her slowly, unsure what to do. "Ari, what's going on? Who was that woman?"

She needs him to understand but she just can't say it, so she points to the bottom drawer of her desk. She can see it, when understanding bursts through Sideswipe's processor, dread soon to follow. He knows what she keeps in that drawer. It only contains one item. Numbly, he approaches the desk, opens the drawer, and pulls out the picture frame containing a photo of a woman with big blue eyes and long reddish-brown hair, a photo of _that_ woman.

The picture frame falls to the floor with a clack and he crosses the space between them in quick long strides. He drops to the floor next to her and pulls her over to sit on his lap once again. He holds her tightly as she cries. They don't say anything. There's nothing either of them can say because they don't know what to do.

Ari's mother, her biological mother, Judy Witwicky, is outside that door and they don't know what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let's take this one thing at a time.
> 
> So, you got a kiss. I know you all have been wanting it for a while, and I know you holoform fans are still waiting, but I really want to keep the affection between Ari and his bot self and Ari and his holoform self as even as possible. It's still Sideswipe, after all, no matter which form he takes and I want to make it clear that she still loves him, that she would still love him even if he didn't have a holoform at all. Ari and his holoform will kiss. Just not yet. As you can see, she still has some stuff she needs to get through when it comes to physical interaction.
> 
> Next, yeah, I couldn't really imagine her just going quietly back to college. Especially after the press conference. People have big mouths that usually do more harm than good. And it was a good lead in to the next thing.
> 
> Ari's mom, Judy Witwicky, has arrived. I have to wonder, how many of you saw this coming? It's going to be a Pit of a ride. And something Ari needs to deal with to help keep her moving on.
> 
> Alrighty then, next chapter we'll be dealing with Judy, obviously. It'll be up Wednesday.
> 
> Sorry about the cliffhanger. But not really.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	41. Truths or Lies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I'm posting early. I finished writing this fic. When I started I said I was really far ahead so you guys have a looooong way to go. Just look at that chapter count. Eighty chapters! And this is only forty-one!
> 
> This may take a while. But I will post every day until completion so yay for that!
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The sun is setting, casting Ari's bedroom in an orange glow. Sideswipe's shirt is wet against her cheek from her tears. She has no more tears to give. Just staring off into space sitting in Sideswipe's arms. Neither of them have spoken for a very long time. The shock hasn't quite worn off yet. They both knew Ari's mom was out there somewhere, they just never imagined her suddenly showing up like this.

"Why do you think she came?" Ari asks in a raspy whisper, not sure if she really wants to know the answer. But a part of her does. The part of her who is still that little girl who missed her mom every day and wished she would come home so that everything could be better again.

"I don't know," Sideswipe says against the top of her head, "but she's gone now. Will made her leave after you got upset."

That explains the silence. There's no more knocking on her door. She sighs in relief, the tension in her chest easing. "I don't know what to do, Sideswipe. What do I do? She's never cared before. Why now?"

"I don't know, sweetspark. But you won't find out unless you talk to her."

She buries her face in his shoulder with a groan. She doesn't what to talk to her. She wishes it would all go away. She wishes her mother just stayed wherever the Pit she was and left her alone. But then that little girl inside of her nags her again. This is her chance, her chance to find out the real reason why her mother left them. Maybe it didn't happen the way Ron said it did. Maybe she didn't really want to leave Ari behind.

Her mother said she had missed her.

"You'll be with me through this, right?"

Sideswipe runs a hand through her hair. "Of course. We all will be."

"Okay." She moves to get up and Sideswipe helps her to stand. "I guess we'll go downstairs. Find out what my…what my mom and dad found out while she was here."

They're still her parents. No matter what happens, Will and Sarah are the closest thing to a mom and dad she's ever had.

Sideswipe takes her hand, lacing their fingers together, and they exit her room after what must have been hours, following the delicious smells of home cooking to the kitchen. There they find Sarah at the counter mixing something in a bowl with a wooden spoon, Will sitting on one of the stools at the island behind her. When Ari and Sideswipe enter the kitchen Will stands, the noise of the stool being pushed back drawing Sarah's attention.

"Hey, honey," Sarah says with a warm smile, the same smile she gave Ari whenever she found out about Ron and what he did to her. The smile that always lets Ari know everything's going to be okay. Ari and Sideswipe slip onto stools across from Will and Sarah sits next to her husband, reaching across the island to grasp Ari's other hand. "How you holding up?"

"I've been better," Ari says and Sideswipe squeezes her hand. "Did…Did she tell you anything? While she was here?"

Will and Sarah exchange a loaded glance that speaks worlds to the uncertainty and worry they feel. But Sarah nods and Will turns back to Ari with a sigh. "She arrived about an hour after we heard what happened to you at school," he says. "She asked for you, said she knew you, so we let her inside. When we asked her _how_ she knew you she said she was your mother. No real way for us to know for sure, you've never shown us a photo of her or anything, but she knew things about you that not just anyone could know."

"What sort of things?"

"Well, she knew your middle name. Samantha. Of course, that wasn't enough to convince us so she started talking about you when you were little but…you've never really talked about her before. We couldn't know. Then you showed up."

"What kind of stories?" She remembers so little about her time with her mother growing up. A part of her can't help but be curious.

"She said that when you were born," Sarah says, "right away she knew you were special. When you came out you didn't cry. You didn't cry much at all when you were young. And as you were growing up you started doing things so much sooner than other children your age. Crawling, walking, talking. She knew you were meant for big things."

A lump forms in Ari's throat, a testament to how she isn't that little girl anymore who never cried. And she didn't ever cry. Her first memory of crying is when Judy left and Ron turned abusive. "Why did she leave? Did she say that?"

They shake their heads sadly. "No, she didn't. She wanted to wait until you got here."

She wipes a hand tiredly across her face. "Okay. Is she coming back?"

"Yeah," Will says, "tomorrow. She said she'd try again tomorrow. She seems to genuinely want to talk to you."

She nods. So she has another chance. "What do you think I should do? Should I talk to her or not?"

"That really is hard to say," Sarah says, "and there's no easy answer. I know that what she did really hurt you, when she left, and that brought you a lot of pain in many ways after." An angry shadow passes over Sarah's face, and Sarah almost never gets angry. Unless Skids and Mudflap decide to go cow tipping again. "I wish I could tell you never to see her again because I think what she did was unforgivable. But that isn't my call. It's yours. And though she hasn't done a good job of it, she still is your mother. If there is a chance you can really fix things between you, you should go for it."

"But you're my mother," Ari says quietly. "You're the only mother I need."

Sarah cups Ari's cheek with a soft smile. "I know, honey. I will always be you're mother, and you will always be my daughter. But that doesn't mean you should shut her out of your life for good. Besides, she just wants to talk. If you don't like what she has to say, just say the word and you'll never see her again."

It's Ari's choice whether or not she does this. She can refuse to see Judy again or she can hear Judy out. She can keep her past firmly in the past or she can face it. She thought that just by accepting that her mother left her, she had moved on. But maybe not. Maybe she won't really move on until she gets some answers. Some closure. And who knows, maybe by the end of this she'll have two mothers. Maybe she can get a piece of her old family back. That's a lot of maybes but she's willing to face all of the ifs and maybes now. Now, she thinks she might be strong enough to. "Alright. I'll talk to her."

* * *

Judy didn't say what time exactly she would return, so the next day Ari has no choice but to play the waiting game. Her impatience and nervousness quickly makes her grow tired of it. Ari just wants her answers and then a chance to decide what to do about Judy. And she just wants to get it all over with.

At some point in the morning Sideswipe convinces her to a movie, the other Autobots crowding around the living room with them with Optimus on the recliner, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Chromia on the sofa, Ari and Sideswipe on the loveseat, and everyone else on the floor. She starts to feel calmer with all of them there, surrounding her. It's like they're all her Guardians. No matter what happens, they'll protect her in any way they can. So she's finally able to sit still, her back propped on the armrest of the loveseat and her legs draped over Sideswipe's lap. Her mind, however, doesn't stop racing and she can't get herself to actually focus on the movie. Halfway through she still has no idea what it's about. And when the movie stops, it takes her a few minutes to notice.

She looks up at the others in confusion and they're all staring at her. "What? Did the movie freeze or something?"

"No," Jolt says, holding up the remote. "It's paused."

"Oh," she says. "Why did you pause it?"

"We are worried about you, little one," Ratchet says.

Bee nods his head. "Yeah, if your processor was working any faster smoke would be coming out of your ears."

"I'm fine," she says, forcing a smile. "Really."

Sideswipe squeezes her leg. "No, you're not, Ari. Don't hide from us."

She sighs, flopping her head back to look up at the ceiling. "I don't know what I'm going to do when she gets here. Or what I'm going to say. I certainly didn't make a very good first impression."

Sunstreaker snorts from where he's lying on the floor. "That's not your fault, Squishy. It's all on her and I say you give her Pit for it."

"Hostility is not the way to repair a relationship," Optimus says, getting up from the recliner. Ari takes her legs off of Sideswipe to sit up properly as Optimus kneels in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. "Do you still wish to reconcile with her?"

"I do," she says. "I really do. I just don't know how. And what if we can't?"

"Families are considered precious. This is true for humans as well as Cybertronians." His eyes turn downcast and his voice soft with the ache of memories. "I wish I could reconcile with my brother, but Megatron is beyond hope. I realized this a long time ago. However, you and your parental unit have a chance. If you both truly wish to do so, then it will be possible to mend your bond. You simply need to try."

"But how?"

He squeezes her knee. "Just be yourself, Ari. That is all anyone can ask."

"What if she doesn't like me?" She looks down at her lap. "She left me behind and a lot of time has passed since then. What if she doesn't like the person I've become?"

"Then she does not deserve to be a part of your life." Optimus tilts her head up to look at him with a finger under her chin. He smiles. "If she does not come to love you as a mother should, then she never wanted to be your mother at all." His eyes turn dark as his hand lowers, looking at her with an intensity that is full of the authority of the Autobot leader. "This brings me to something that will be hard for you to hear but needs to be considered. There is the possibility that Judy Witwicky has evil intentions in approaching you now."

Ari's face falls and her stomach tightens. "You don't really think that's why, do you? What could she possibly have to gain?"

"I do not know but you need to be prepared, which is why there is something I must ask of you: do not tell her of your relationship with Sideswipe."

"What?" She never expected Optimus to ever make this request of her. She doesn't ever want to hide her relationship with Sideswipe, like she's ashamed of it. Because she's not. It's the best thing that's ever happened to her. So all she can do is ask, "Why?"

He looks to Sideswipe, who is also surprised and sitting stiffly beside her, then back to her. "Your relationship is something any enemy could use to exploit you. Until we know she can be trusted I think it would be best to keep the truth from her. But it is just a precaution." Optimus smiles, trying to lift the mood back up. "I am sure everything will turn out all right in the end."

"Yeah," Ari says, trying to ignore the foreboding in the back of her mind. "You're probably right."

Optimus goes back to retake his seat and Jolt pushes play, but now it's even harder for Ari to focus on the movie. What if the worst does happen? What if she gets betrayed by her mother for a second time? Will she be able to handle it? She's changed and grown a lot the past few years, but the pain of the past has the uncanny ability of being just as painful now as it was then.

Moonracer reaches for the bowl of popcorn sitting untouched on the coffee table, pulling it down onto her lap where she sits cross-legged on the floor. She takes some of the kernels, popping them into her mouth, and holds the bowl out to Arcee who's next to her. Arcee takes one and chucks it at Optimus, hitting him squarely on the forehead. Skids and Mudflap both burst into laughter while everyone else suppresses their own giggles.

Optimus blinks, his eyes going wide, and looks down at Arcee in surprise and confusion. "Did you just throw popcorn at me?"

"Yep," Arcee says, chewing slowly on some popcorn.

"May I ask why?"

"Well, you were doing an awesome job of cheering Ari up and then you totally botched it. I get that it needed to be said but seriously, sir, not helping."

Optimus looks at Ari sheepishly. "I apologize, Ari. I did not mean to worry you further."

"It's okay, big guy," Ari says, stealing some popcorn from Arcee's bowl. "I know a good way to fix it." She throws popcorn at Optimus as well, this one hitting him on the chin. "There. Now we're good."

Everyone laughs and Optimus joins in. "I suppose I deserved that. But that does not mean I cannot return fire." He picks up one of the fallen popcorns and throws it at Ari, but she ducks and it misses.

"Nice try, big guy, but you'll have to do better than that."

"It's alright, Optimus," Sunstreaker says. "I'll get her for you." He reaches to snatch some of the popcorn but Arcee lifts the bowl out of his reach, handing it to Ari.

"Not before I get you." She tips the bowl over Sunny's head, spilling its contents all over him.

He gives her a dark look as he brushes popcorn off of his shirt but she can see the mischief and amusement in it. "Oh, it's on, Squishy."

Everyone moves at once, grabbing popcorn off the floor and throwing it at each other. Laughter fills the air until both the movie and Ari's worries melt away.

That is, until someone clears their throat very loudly. Everyone freezes, turning guiltily towards the doorway expecting to see a very angry Sarah. Instead, they see a bewildered Judy. _And_ an angry Sarah right next to her.

Skids and Mudflap instantly point at Sunstreaker and say, "He started it."

"Hey!" Sunny says in annoyance. "I did not! Ari dumped the bowl on me."

"After Optimus threw popcorn at me," Ari says in defense, "and you threated to throw popcorn at me, too."

"After Arcee threw popcorn at me," Optimus adds.

Arcee opens her mouth to retort as well but Sarah holds up her hand to stop her. "I don't care who started it," Sarah says, exasperated but amused. "Just clean it up."

Ari nods, feeling slightly guilty but also that it was worth it. It took her mind off her worries if only for a little bit. Though perhaps not presenting the best impression for Judy. Again. But, oh well. Nothing she can do about it now. She bends down to start picking up popcorn, pretending Judy isn't there even though she can feel eyes on her, but Ratchet places a hand on her shoulder.

"We can handle this, little one," he says. "Go talk to her."

"But," she begins but Ratchet shakes his head.

"Everything will be fine. Go."

Reluctantly, she stands, meeting eyes with Sideswipe. He gives her an encouraging smile and with a deep breath she turns to face Judy. She's wearing a yellow sundress this time, with white sandal heels and a pair of big sunglasses perched on her head, all of it way more expensive than Ari has ever seen anyone wear, even Coulson with his suits. It makes Ari wonder what the woman has been up to since she left. What kind of life has she built for herself without Ari?

_Only one way to find out,_ she says to herself. _I can't put this off any longer._

She plasters on a polite smile and approaches Judy. "Hi."

"Hello," Judy says, eyes shifting back and forth between Ari and the Autobots curiously, though Judy probably does not know who they are.

Ari looks back at the others as well. "Perhaps you would like to talk outside?"

Judy gives a tight smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Yes, perhaps that would be best."

Ari leads the way to the door, Sarah giving her hand a squeeze as she passes, and they head out into the warm Nevada air. It still feels very much like summer here even though fall is just around the corner. They have quite a few months left before the first signs of coldness comes. The cows munch on grass out in the pasture. Will whistles a cheerful tune that wafts out of the barn on the light breeze. The sun climbs ever higher in the cloudless sky and Ari turns her face to its light, closing her eyes. Warmth soaks into her skin and she lets out a contented sigh. She loves days like this. They're just so…peaceful. She's learned to cherish that peace because days could come soon when it is nowhere to be found. Though there still may not be much peace this day.

A squeal makes Ari turn. Judy is having a hard time walking on the grass and dirt, wobbling as her high heels sink into the ground. When she catches up to Ari she almost stumbles, latching onto Ari's arm for support, but Ari flinches away. Judy lets go in shock, holding up her hand to show she means no harm. When she does, Ari notices the rings on her left hand, a wedding band and engagement ring with a very large diamond. Ari looks away numbly and keeps moving.

"Are you alright?" Judy asks, struggling after her.

"Yes," Ari says, jaw clenched. "The years have just not always been so kind to me."

And the old fears are not so easily pushed back when accompanied by the sting of betrayal.

"And how have things been," Judy asks tentatively, "since I left?"

They come upon the Autobots' alt modes and Ari sits down on Sideswipe's hood. Having them with her, it gives her strength. "Well, for starters, Ron didn't take it all very well."

Judy crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Your father? What did he do?"

"He became abusive," Ari grinds out, glaring at the ground. "It got…bad. Real bad." She looks up at Judy, body tense with anger, hurt, and accusation. "But you already knew he could get like that, didn't you?"

Judy flinches, hands wringing together and touching her rings. "Yes, I did know."

"Then why?" Ari yells. "Why did you leave me behind to that-that hell?"

Judy drops her hands to her sides, fists clenched. "Because I had to get out! I was married to that man for thirty years and the majority of that was hell for me. He abused me. So when I found Eric…it was like a miracle. He cares for me in a way Ron never did. Then he offered me a way out and I took it."

Tears brim in Ari's eyes. So she did find someone else, just like Ron said. She found someone to get her out. "Why didn't you take me with you?"

"Oh, baby." Judy takes a step forward, eyes shining with her own tears. "I wanted to take you with me. I-I tried, but I lost the custody battle. Ron convinced them that I was making up the abuse and I was unemployed. I had Eric, but we weren't married yet. They didn't see me as a stable enough home. Ron charmed them into believing that he was. He stole you from me."

Ari blinks, staring dumbfounded. Judy tried to keep her? She didn't just leave her behind? What Ron said was a lie? She closes her eyes shut tight, a sob rising in her throat. She wants to believe it. She really does. But after so many lies in her family, she doesn't know what to believe.

"I'm sorry, but I can't just take your word for it," she chokes out, barely above a whisper. "I mean, I just…How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Hey, look at me, baby," Judy says softly, and Ari looks up at her watery smile. "I love you. Very much. I wish I could have gotten to you sooner and I'm sorry I didn't, but I want to make it up to you. I want a chance to be your mother, if you'll let me."

Ari's not sure if Judy will ever really be able to be her mother, not after her time with Will and Sarah. But is there a chance for something? Is there a chance to mend their bond, like Optimus said, and have a chance at a life together? She's not sure. But if Judy is willing….

"I'm willing to try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was certainly interesting to write. And fragging hard. And our time with Judy isn't even over yet. We've got some questions answered and still some more to go.
> 
> And how do we even know what's the truth and what's lies? Who was telling the truth, Ron or Judy? You'll just have to wait for tomorrow and see.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	42. Tales of the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frag yeah, daily updates. You guys are going to get spoiled.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari takes a deep breath, wiping the tears from her face. She and Judy haven't been talking long but already she feels exhausted. And there's so much more she wants to ask her. But there will be time for that. If they really are going to try to repair their relationship, they have plenty of time.

Judy wipes at her face as well, a relieved smile on her face. Looking just as tired as Ari feels, she approaches Sunstreaker's alt mode, who's right next to Sideswipe, and turns to sit on his hood.

Ari's go wide and she warns quickly, "Don't do that!"

Judy jolts in surprise, moving away from Sunny awkwardly. "Why not? You're sitting on that car."

Ari pats Sideswipe's hood. "That's because Sideswipe doesn't mind. But Sunstreaker would pitch a hissy fit. He doesn't like the potential of anyone messing up his paint job."

Her brow furrows in confusion, but when she looks over the cars again her face clears in realization. And she starts to look a little afraid. "These are the Autobots?"

"Yep. Do you want to meet them? Well," she scratches the back of her head self-consciously, "technically you already met them. Well, you didn't meet them, really, but you saw them-"

"When in the world did I see them?"

"Inside, when you first got here today. We were throwing popcorn at each other and they started picking up the mess when we came out here."

Judy blinks rapidly, not really comprehending. "But those were people."

Ari bristles a little. "Cybertronians are people, too. They just don't look like us."

"Fine. Those were _humans_."

Ari sighs in frustration. If Judy is going to be like this, this isn't going to work. She needs to accept the Autobots. Hopefully, Ari will be able to change her perspective. "Those were still the Autobots. Their holoforms to be specific. They're like a hologram but solid. They allow them to blend in when they need to and go into spaces their bipedal forms can't." Judy nods but she looks at the cars doubtfully. Nervously. Ari sighs again. "How about you just meet them. Ratchet can explain it better if you want but…yeah." She knocks on Sideswipe's hood. "Go ahead, Sides."

Before she says something stupid. She can talk in front of a bunch of recruits and handle introductions no problem, but put her in front of her birth mother and she flounders. She wasn't even this tongue-tied at the press conference.

Sideswipe takes her cue, transforming with her on top until she ends up on his shoulder. Ari watches Judy warily. Her mouth is agape, eyes wide, as she stares up at Sideswipe. Even from Ari's perch it's easy to see her fear. Ari shifts uneasily, waiting for the freak out she is sure is coming but then Judy schools her features, letting out a nervous, breathy chuckle. It's still easy to see the fear in her eyes, but Judy is trying so Ari presses forward. "Mo…Judy…this is Sideswipe."

Judy gives a little wave. "H-Hello." She takes a few tentative steps forward and Ari tells Sides to kneel down so he's more on her level and Ari slides to the ground to stand next to him.

"It's okay," she says, "Don't be afraid."

Judy's eyes shoot to her and she licks her lips nervously. "You said on T.V. that it's…he's…your Guardian or something, right?"

"Yeah. He keeps me safe, in more ways than one." Ari smiles up at Sideswipe and he smiles back.

"I chose to become Ari's Guardian shortly after we met," Sideswipe says. "Your daughter is an amazing girl, Mrs. Witwicky, and I will protect her with my life."

Judy presses her lips firmly together in a thin line. "It's not Mrs. Witwicky. Hasn't been for some years now. Now it's Mrs. Lukewright."

Ari swallows thickly, wanting to ask questions but pressing through the introductions. The rest of the Autobots transform and introduce themselves to Judy, gladly taking the chance to stretch their limbs. They all pretend like they hadn't been listening to their conversation but Ari knows better. Still, they make polite small talk until Judy starts to get a little antsy and Ari decides it might be better for them to move on for now, leading Judy out into the pasture. Judy becomes less tense the further from the Autobots they get and Ari bites her lip, not sure how to take that. She shakes her head, clearing the thought from her mind. There will be time for speculation later.

"So," she says after a few minutes of silent walking, "your new husband's name is Eric Lukewright? How did you meet?"

Judy perks up at that, flipping her hair over her shoulder happily. "Yeah. We met at the grocery store, actually. Ron…wouldn't let me go many places by myself and since I didn't have a job I never had much of a chance to meet many people. I looked forward to grocery shopping since it was one of the few times I got to freely interact with other people. Eric was going up and down the aisles looking for something, not paying attention to where he was going, and bumped into my cart. He apologized and when our eyes met," she sighs softly, "I don't know. We just connected. I helped him find what he was looking for, we chatted for a little bit, and then we went our separate ways. But then the next week when I went grocery shopping again, there he was, doing his own shopping. When I saw him I was afraid he wouldn't recognize me, but he did. After that we agreed to meet up every week at the same time to do our shopping together. The time I spent with him was like a dream. When I was with him, I didn't have to think about Ron waiting at home for me.

"Eric and I slowly got to know each other with each meeting. He's been divorced once. He has no siblings and his parents died when he was eight in a car crash. He went to M.I.T. on a scholarship. He was just starting to get his own tech company up and running at the time we met. We have the same likes and interests and it all just felt so wonderful. For the first time in a long time, I was happy. I tried not to tell him much about my home life. I always steered the conversation in another direction when he asked about Ron. But one day he caught sight of one of my bruises and I couldn't hide it from him anymore. Eric tried to get me to go to the police, but I couldn't. I already tried to, years before, but Ron can be very manipulative. He got the police on his side. Then Eric suggested that I run away with him."

Judy goes silent, because they both know what happened after that. Judy left. And Ari is still having a problem dealing with that. They continue on until they reach the cattle, Ari reaching out to pet the nearest one, taking comfort from the contact and closeness of the large animal as she strokes the cow's neck. Judy cries out suddenly and Ari turns quickly to see Judy looking down in annoyance, one foot risen off the ground showing manure sticking to the bottom of her shoe.

"Oh, God!" Judy exclaims, backing away from the pile of manure and wiping her shoe in the grass in a frenzied attempt to get the manure off. "Oh, God, that's _disgusting_! My shoes are completely ruined now. And that smell!" Her nose wrinkles in revulsion. "Arianna, baby, how about we go back to the house and away from these-these beasts."

Ari bristles a little again, the cows certainly never did anything to her, it's not their fault Judy wasn't paying attention to where she was stepping, but Ari follows her back towards the house and the Autobots. The Autobots are all back in their alt modes now, still feigning the appearance of privacy, and Ari rolls her eyes. But it allows her to get the conversation back on track.

"Did you," Ari begins, trying to think through her words, "did you ever talk to Eric about me?"

"O-Of course," Judy stammers, eyes focused intently on where she's stepping to avoid any other surprises. "I told him all about you. And he wanted to meet you, too, but you were in kindergarten by then and it was just…too risky to try to sneak you out of the house to visit Eric without your father finding out. And then when I left Ron and started the process of getting a divorce it was too late. Ron took you from me, from _us_ , and we couldn't get you back. We wanted you to stay with us, baby."

"Eric, too?"

"Yeah, Eric, too. He wanted to get to know you. He still does."

"Where is he? Why isn't he with you now, telling me all this himself?" Ari can't just accept that this man who spent maybe a couple of months with her mother would have been willing to take in another man's child.

Judy stops walking, looking at her pleadingly, and Ari stops as well. "He wanted to be here, h-he really did, it's just…He runs one of the leading tech companies in the country now and he couldn't get away." She chuckles a little. "He hardly ever takes a vacation, even for himself. Which is why, one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about was…I-I want you to come back with me."

A jolt goes through Ari. "What? What do you mean?"

"Eric and I live in California now. I want you to come back with me, meet Eric, allow the three of us to catch up and take a chance at building a life together. We could be a family, Arianna."

Judy reaches for her but she takes a step back. "I can't just abandon the Autobots. They are a big part of my life now and I'm a big part of theirs. I'm the Autobot Ambassador, or at least, I will be one day. It's what I want to do with my life and the Autobots really need me to be the ambassador. No one else knows or understands them as much as I do. And then there are the Decepticons. They won't ever leave me alone. I'm going to be a target for them until the day the Autobots and N.E.S.T. finally get rid of them all for good. Leaving the Autobots now would put me at a huge risk. But even if leaving them was an option, I wouldn't want to. And I don't want to just leave Will and Sarah either."

"I'm not asking you to abandon them. I understand how important they are to you and I don't want to take you away from that. But California isn't that far away. You can still be a part of all this while living with Eric and I. We want to get to know you, Arianna. I want to see more of the woman you've become. We want to be a part of your life and even help you with being an ambassador. Eric has resources that could be very helpful to you. We can't do that if you stay here. And this place looks," she hesitates on a word, looking around at the farmhouse and cows like she's reaching for something nice to say even though she doesn't see anything she considers nice at all, "quaint, but Eric is a very successful businessman. We have a nice, big house and we can provide you with so much more." Judy leads her back to the Porsche, digging into her purse in search of something. "Here." She pulls out a slip of paper and hands it to Ari. Written on it is an address in Mission City and a phone number. "This is the address of where I'm staying and my cell number. I'm going to be in town for the next three days. Just think about it, okay?" Judy steps close to her and kisses her forehead, ignoring Ari's flinch. "I love you, baby."

Ari smiles numbly, backing up as Judy gets into the car. Judy looks down at her feet before putting them down on the car floor. She bends down, slipping the sandals off and holding them up by the straps. The bottoms are completely covered in dirt and manure. "Ick, that's so gross." With a sigh she puts them down on the floor in front of the passenger seat. "Oh, well, I'll just have to have the car completely cleaned when I get home. And those shoes are going straight to the trash."

Then with a wave and a goodbye she drives off.

Ari just stares after her birth mother, not sure what to think. So, the truth, according to Judy, is that she met a guy named Eric Lukewright, they fell in love, he found out about the abuse, and then he helped her get away. That's just about the same as what Ron told her. What's different is that Judy supposedly fought to keep her, which Ari really, really wants to believe, but was unable to because of Ron. That sounds like something Ron is capable of. It's the reason why Ari couldn't get away sooner herself. Now Judy wants Ari to move in with her and Eric, whose tech company has now made the two of them pretty rich from what it sounds like. She could keep being with the Autobots and N.E.S.T., but it would mean leaving Will and Sarah. She already knows what they would say. They would tell her to go for it. This is her birth mother. If this is what it takes to fix their relationship, shouldn't she do it? But she's not naive. She's not going to just jump right into this and simply take Judy at her word.

She hears all of the Autobots transform behind her, but she doesn't turn to them until Sideswipe places a finger on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asks, faceplates filled with worry.

"Yeah," she says softly, and reaches up to him. He smiles, picking her up and cradling her to his chassis.

"So now what?"

She sighs. "Good question."

"You're not going to leave, are you?"

Ari looks up at him, meeting his optics with intensity. "Whatever happens, Sideswipe, I will never, _ever_ , leave you. Any of you. And that is a promise." He simply nods, though some of the worry leaves his face. No matter what Ari decides, she will never let it get between her and the Autobots. Although the way Judy makes it sound, she won't have to leave the Autobots behind if she decides to move in with her. Still, there is a lot to consider before she is ready to make any kind of a decision. She wants to have all of the facts laid out so she asks, "What did you guys think of her?"

The Autobots look at each other awkwardly. "She seemed, uh, pleasant enough," Arcee says. "From what we saw of her at least."

Ari's eyebrow arches. "Come on, guys, I know you were listening."

"No we wasn't!" Skids says. "We didn't hear nothin' you and Mrs. Lukewright said."

Mudflap slaps the back of his brother's head.

"Oh!" Skids yells, glaring at his twin while rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for, stupid?"

"You're the stupid, stupid," Mudflap says. "We wasn't supposed tah know her name's Lukewright."

"Oh. Slag."

Ari laughs. "It's okay, guys, I'm not mad. I was actually counting on it. I wanted a second opinion of her." They look at each other again, nervously, and Ari can feel that whatever they have to say can't be good. Her stomach drops, but honestly, a part of her isn't surprised. "Come on, guys. I can handle whatever it is."

"In that case," Ironhide says, "this Judy Lukewright is probably a fragging liar. Based on her body language and tone, there were several indications of deception."

Ari nods grimly. "When exactly?"

"When she said that she fought to get custody over you," Optimus says, "after the divorce. Also, when she said Eric Lukewright wished for you to have been able to go with them."

Ari wilts tiredly, a heavy weight filling her chest. Apparently neither of her biological parents are capable of telling her the truth. But she was expecting that, which is why she made this contingency. And why she already knows who to turn to. She pulls out her phone, scrolling through her contacts.

"Who are you calling?" Sideswipe asks.

She places the phone to her ear, listening to it ring. "The one person I know I can trust to finally give me the full truth about all of this. Which is funny considering he works for a secret government organization that is usually in charge of covering the truth up."

The line connects and a voice says, "This is Coulson."

"Hey, Phil," she says, attempting a smile even though he can't see it. "It's Ari."

"Hello, Ari," Coulson says. "How are you holding up? I heard you've had a pretty rough twenty-four hours."

"As good as can be expected, I guess." Which reminds her of the first part of those twenty-four hours. "Did you ever find out how the press got a hold of where I go to college?"

"I'm in Nevada right now, actually, conducting interviews of both your college and high school. So far none of the staff from either institution have proven to be the source of the leak. We've moved on to friends and acquaintances but still have nothing."

"Oh, Primus, you didn't ask Lina if she was the leak, did you?"

"We couldn't rule anyone out." She can practically hear the exasperation in his voice. He probably used that argument against Lina, too. And it didn't turn out so well for him. "Don't laugh."

"I'm not laughing," Ari says, suppressing giggles.

"You want to. I can hear it." He sighs deeply. "Anyway, if we don't find this leak soon…I'm starting to get worried."

Ari instantly sobers. "Why?"

"Because the last place to check would be N.E.S.T. You talked about it there, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but no one there would ever rat me out like that. The soldiers…we're all a team. They've risked their lives to save me and I've fought alongside them. They wouldn't do this."

"But there is no one else who it could be."

"What about Galloway?" she asks, pulling at straws. "He could have found out somehow and did it as some sort of revenge."

"He was the first person I went to and I cleared him of suspicion. I'm sorry, Ari, but we're running out of suspects. I don't like the idea of someone being so close to you willing to spill secrets to the press."

Ari leans her head against Sideswipe's chassis, closing her eyes. She doesn't want to believe it. She doesn't want to believe any of the soldiers would ever betray her like that. She may not know most of them very well, but it's not like she's ever done anything to warrant any of them doing this to her either. "Let's just…worry about that later. There was actually something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Like what?"

"My birth mother. I want to know the truth, Phil. All of it. Once and for all."

He sighs again. "I thought so. Let me wrap up the interviews here and then I'll come by your house. I think it would be best if we had this conversation in person."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some of the past is revealed. Or is it? The secrets just keep piling up. Hopefully Coulson will be able to provide Ari with some answers. And it all comes to a head next chapter, which will be up tomorrow.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	43. Death of the Little Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very sticky time for Ari. She goes a lot of places emotionally this chapter and I wanted to make sure I did this right, especially since I've certainly never had anything like this ever happen to me. Anyway, I digress. This chapter we get to find out the truth, once and for all.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

As they wait for Coulson to arrive carrying whatever truth Ari has been waiting years for, she and the others end up in the living room again, Will and Sara joining them as well. They turn on the T.V. to watch whatever is on but they don't make it past the news. The news channel shows a woman reporter standing outside the White House gate and behind her is a crowd of people, protesting. They can't understand what the people are shouting but they do get a good look at one of the signs someone holds. It's the Autobot insignia marked out with a big black X. The remote drops from Ari's hands.

"I am reporting to you live from outside the White House," the reporter says, "and as you can see, the news that the government has been keeping the existence of aliens a secret from the public has driven some people into an uproar. A week ago young ambassador Arianna Lennox," they show her picture in the corner of the screen taken during the press conference, "went in front of the world to introduce these Autobots to us, claiming they come peace, but not everyone is so easily convinced. Internet blogger Allen Maxwell has been claiming for years that aliens were among us and that they only mean us harm." The camera focuses on a man at the front of the group standing on a box so as to be seen over the rest of the people. He's lanky, with messy, sandy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses skewed on his nose. He's wearing a white T-shirt that mirrors the sign he's holding, the Autobot insignia crossed out with the words "Deport the Aliens" written in big, bold letters. "He claimed the attack on Mission City, Nevada that occurred over two years ago was an alien attack, and at the press conference it was confirmed to be true. Since then Maxwell's readers have jumped from about a dozen to over a thousand. Maxwell is here today with some of his following demanding that the aliens known as the Autobots be forced to leave the planet before it is too late and that their presence will only lead to more bloodshed and destruction-"

The T.V. suddenly turns off, startling everyone out of their shocked stupor. Coulson sets the remote down on the coffee table. No one had noticed him come in or heard him knock. Well, if he did knock. A locked door wouldn't exactly stop him. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, a file held in one hand, looking more worn than Ari's ever seen him. "Obviously, not everyone is taking this so well. Mr. Maxwell has always believed Cybertronians to be a threat, but now that there's proof that he isn't just some crackpot, he's feeding off of these people's fears like a parasite."

"But not all Cybertronians are bad," Ari says quietly, almost pleadingly, even though she knows Coulson isn't the one she needs to convince. "The Autobots and Decepticons aren't the same."

Sarah brings in a chair from the dining room and Coulson sits, thanking her. "I know that, Ari," he says, "and a lot of other people believe that, too, but human beings have always had a tendency to react badly to the unknown and strange. It's one of our many, many faults. It may not be fair or right, but people like Maxwell, they're going to be difficult to convince that the Autobots aren't dangerous."

"Is there anything that I can do?"

"Not right now. Right now, we wait for the worst of this to pass. Maxwell doesn't have the resources to make this grow any bigger than it already is. But once this blows over, after that it'll just take time." He squeezes her arm. "That's the best way to build trust. They need to see for themselves that the Autobots are only here to help. And one day you'll be able to help with that, too."

She nods, not really liking the whole waiting thing, but knowing that it won't be forever and that she'll be a part of mending fences, it makes it a little better. "Thanks, Phil."

"We will do our best as well," Optimus says. "We want all humans to trust us, just as you do, and we will do all that we can to earn that trust."

"That's good to hear." Coulson gives one of his rare little smiles and leans back in his chair. "Anyway, D.C. police should be on scene by now and will break up the protest. I'm just glad the location of the N.E.S.T. base still isn't public knowledge."

"Yeah," Will agrees. "That would have been bad. But now that everything's out in the open, isn't it only a matter of time?"

"Probably. Which is why we've been thinking of finding a new place for H.Q. and maybe even build new bases all over the world. After the worldwide strike the Decepticons orchestrated before the Battle of Egypt, we realized N.E.S.T. may need to grow beyond what it is now so that if something like that ever happens again we won't be so defenseless."

The corners of Optimus's mouth turn downward. "That is something we may not be able to help with much. We do not have enough Autobots to fill so many bases. We would be spread too thin."

"We know. We'll have to do what we can with human soldiers; teach them how to fight the Decepticons. It'll have to be enough, for now, until more Autobots arrive. In the meantime, we know we can count on you for the big battles we can't handle by ourselves."

Optimus nods. "Thank you for your confidence, Phil. We will try to live up to it."

"I know you will." They're silent for a beat and then he turns to Ari. "So, about why I came."

Ari wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans. "I don't know a whole lot about my birth parents and what happened when they split. Ron's told me his version of the story but I also know he told me a lot of lies. And now Judy's shown up with her own version."

Coulson's jaw clenches. "Your birth mother visited you? What did she want?"

"To reconcile. Supposedly."

"But you don't trust her."

She looks to the Autobots. "No, I don't."

"We have reason to believe she is hiding something," Ironhide says. "All of the physical markers are there."

"I need to know the truth, Phil," Ari says, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. "Please."

Coulson is silent for a moment, his calm mask giving nothing away, but then he sighs. "Alright. Do you want to do this somewhere private?"

She sits back, not needing to think about this at all. "No. I want everyone to hear. I'd just end up telling them later anyway. We're all a family, so we'll deal with this together." She smiles. "You're family, too, you know."

Deep surprise shows through his mask and her smile grows. "Really? I'm honored. It's…been a while since I've had family."

That gets Ari thinking and she cocks her head in curiosity. "Do you have any family, Phil?"

His mask goes back in place. But she can see the sadness in his eyes. "No. All of my family is dead. And the people who have come to be like family to me, well, they still think I'm dead."

"Even Agents Barton and Romanoff?" she asks on a hunch.

"Yeah," he says quietly, "them, too."

Anger simmers low in her stomach and her fists clench in her lap. "Phil, you can't keep doing this. They need to know you're alive. If they are your family, they deserve to know!"

Coulson's eyes go hard. "No. They can't know. They'll-"

"They'll, what, get mad at you? Yeah, that's what family does, but they also forgive. I know I don't know Barton and Romanoff as much as you do, but if they consider you family, too, then they will forgive you. It may take a little time and some not so nice words, but you can't keep doing this, to yourself or them. Secrets have a way of growing and festering like a boil. One day the pressure is going to become too much and it'll all explode. That's why I want to know the truth about my parents, even if it means ruining any chance I have at being with Judy. But for you things will be different. No matter how mad they get, their happiness that you're alive will override everything else."

"Okay," Coulson says, voice stoic but she can see a little kernel of doubt. "I'll think about it. But right now we should get down to business. I know stalling when I hear it."

And that is an obvious avoidance tactic but she certainly can't deny the stalling. She's a little bit terrified to know what she's about to find out. She wants Judy to be her mother again, but if she is hiding something, she needs to know, even if it ruins everything. "Alright, Phil. Tell me."

He places the file he brought with him on the coffee table in front of her. "This is everything we have."

"On who?" she asks, touching the brown folder tentatively. It's quite thick, a rubber band being the only thing keeping it closed, and the words "Classified: Level 10" stamped on the front in red.

"On you."

She knew she had a file, Coulson had mentioned as much once, but she's never actually seen it before. Galloway has been working hard for a long time to see this and here it is, sitting in front of her looking far more intimidating than a stack of papers should. It's a lot thicker than she thought it would be, making her wonder just how much they know about her and her life. Quite a lot by the looks of it. Meaning, all of her answers are most likely held within these pages. All she has to do is look.

With shaking hands Ari slides the rubber band off and opens the folder. She is greeted by a picture of herself, the one used for her driver's license, and traditional documents such as copies of medical records, her birth certificate, and her high school diploma. Then there are the mission files, as they are called here. Detailed reports of the events leading up to and encompassing the Battle of Mission City and the Battle of Egypt. But all of this is stuff she knows. Seeing her confusion, Coulson reaches over and flips to a section towards the back. He takes out a small stack of papers paper clipped together. On top is her parents' wedding photo. She stares at her parents' smiling faces in wonder. They look so happy. Where did it all go wrong?

"Judy Boiton and Ron Witwicky met when they were pretty young," Coulson says, taking the paperclip off to spread the pages out in front of her. "Judy was just out of high school. Her father was already deceased and her mother was not doing well, so she worked hard at one of the local restaurants to pay for her mother's medicine. Ron was already working at the bank and was quite successful. He and Judy first met when Ron, his boss, and coworkers went out to eat to celebrate Ron's recent promotion." He shows her paperwork dictating the work history of both her parents along with a grainy photo taken from a surveillance camera. A young Ron sits in a restaurant with a group of people in business attire, smiling up at a young Judy who was apparently their waitress that night.

"Phone records indicate they exchanged numbers that night and their relationship progressed from there. In just over five months, shortly after her mother died, Judy moved in with Ron and she quit waitressing. When she filed her two weeks notice the reason she gave for quitting was because her boyfriend did not want her to work and would be providing for the both of them. Five months after that they were married." He then pushes forward a handful of police reports. "It was shortly after that Judy was probably introduced to Ron's aggressive side. Judy went to the police on three separate occasions but nothing ever came of it. The same cop handled the case each time. We suspect Ron paid him off to cover it up. After a while, she stopped."

Ari looks up at that, feeling a little lost in herself after seeing that Judy was just as trapped as she was. "Why did she stop?"

"We're not sure, but our best guess is because of you." Coulson places a picture of a sonogram in front of her. Her sonogram. "Once you were conceived Judy seemed to stop trying to get away. That is, until years later, when she met Eric Lukewright." He next shows her another surveillance photo and she picks it up. This one was taken in a supermarket showing Judy talking to a man with bright blonde hair, broad shoulders, and a big, bright smile. "They knew each other for three months before Judy left with him and filed for divorce."

So this is Eric, the man who took her mother from her. Ari tries to stay reasonable, tries to remind herself that Ron probably did things to Judy just as bad if not worse than what he did to her, but it's hard to remember that. All she can remember is that her mother left her for him.

"What happened next?" Ari asks quietly, her voice not sounding like her voice. It sounds cold, hard. Coulson stares at her for a long moment, hesitant. "I asked to know, Phil. Tell me."

"Very well," Coulson says. "There are no records of your mother ever fighting to gain custody over you. In truth, she signed over her right to custody."

Ari's breath rushes out of her like she was shot in the stomach. It even feels like her stomach acid is trying to eat her from the inside out. "She…gave me up?"

"It appears so."

The level of tension and anger in the room is palpable, coiling around them until Ari almost can't breathe. She can feel it from Sideswipe, the other Autobots, her parents. And no little amount of it is coming from herself.

"There's more," Coulson adds calmly after a moment. She's glad someone is calm and she attaches to it like an anchor. "Would you like to hear it?"

Ari swallows hard, her voice appearing to be lost at the moment. Coulson then places a hand on her arm. She looks down at it only to notice that she is clenching the picture of Judy and Eric in her hands, crumpling the paper. She has to mentally force herself to let go and take a deep breath. "Tell me," she repeats, this time not sounding hard, just broken.

"Over the years, Mr. Lukewright's tech corporation has grown into a multi-million dollar corporation. However, in recent years, ever since Stark Industries ceased making weapons and decided to branch out into other areas, Lukewright's company has been unable to keep up with the newfound competition. It's going under and it does not look like it will recover." He moves his hand from her arm to clasp her hand tightly. "I made a few calls on the way here. We've gotten wind of a reporter working on an exclusive story about you and the Autobots, saying he has access to someone close to you, someone rumored to be a blood relative of yours. We believe Judy wishes to reestablish a relationship with you in the interest of financial gain."

Ari stares at the tabletop, trying to will her wild thoughts into submission but they threaten to submerge her. There were a lot of ways she thought this could go. The not fighting for her at all part, that she had considered, but the rest of it, the getting close to her, worming her way into Ari's life and close to the Autobots, only to sell them out the press. That is a level of betrayal Ari had never imagined. And though she holds down her sobs she can't stop the tears from spilling down her face.

Coulson squeezes her hand. "I'm so sorry, Ari."

"I-It wouldn't have mattered," she chokes out, "if…Judy never fought for me. I would have been okay with that. I could have forgiven her for that if she really wanted to try and make things right now. But to try to use me to get to the Autobots. That is something I can never allow. Or forgive."

"What do you plan on doing?"

She wipes at her tears, calling upon that coldness and hardness she felt earlier and constructing it into a mask like Coulson's. She has to be strong now. She cannot break. Because there is only one answer. "I end it," she says softly, wishing this didn't feel so much like a defeat, but she will move along through it all. "I break ties with the last of the Witwicky family for good."

"Do you want me to take care of it?"

The offer sounds really tempting, just to let someone else deal with it. But she can't. "No. I'll do it myself."

"Okay. Once she's gone S.H.I.E.L.D. will make sure she can never come near you again."

"Thanks, Phil," she says, leaning back in her seat with a tired sigh.

He packs up his folder and Ari stands to see him to the door. Coulson then surprises her by pulling her into a hug. She blinks back her shock and wraps her arms tightly around his middle. "I know that right now everything is far from okay. The world can be an evil place and we at S.H.I.E.L.D. try to protect people from that evil. Still, sometimes some of it slips through the cracks, and you are paying the price. We should have caught this sooner and for that I am sorry. But there's something I want you to remember, Ari. Sadness and anger can be evils all on their own." He pulls back and cups a hand to the side of her face. "Stay strong, Ari. And don't give in."

Ari's not really sure by what he means but she nods anyway and sees him out. The staying strong bit she knows. That she can do. She has to.

* * *

In the wake of the truth Ari feels mostly numb. She wonders if that's normal but it's not like any of this is normal. It makes her want to be left alone, all the while Coulson's warning ringing in her ears like an alarm. She feels as if the roiling tempest of emotions inside of her is crushing her and all she can do is curl up on her bed under the covers, bury herself in that numbness to keep it all contained, and ignore everyone trying to find out if she's alright because that answer should be obvious. Coulson's right, none of this is alright. She feels bad for pushing even Sideswipe away but it's taking all that she has to keep herself together. And she's afraid of what this darkness will do to her, to them, if they come near.

But despite everything she still manages to call the number Judy gave her that night. She gets the voicemail, thank Primus, and leaves a message asking Judy to come by the farmhouse the next day because she has definitely made a decision.

The next morning, Ari stands on the porch when the green Porsche pulls up. Ari clings to that numbness she still feels, wanting to keep the sadness and anger and hurt and betrayal and fury from overwhelming her. She needs to be strong.

Judy gets out of her car in her expensive clothes and a big smile on her face and Ari clenches her fists at her sides. Judy probably thinks Ari's answer is the one she wants. Ari can't wait to wipe that look off her face.

"Arianna, baby, it's so good to see you," Judy says, climbing up the steps and reaching out to give Ari a hug but she steps back, face hard, stoic, trying to keep her mask in place. Judy's smile falters a little. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"I'm not your baby," Ari practically growls, tired of hearing Judy always calling her that, forcing her to close her eyes and take a breath to recompose herself. "I know the truth now so you can drop the act."

"What act?" Judy asks innocently.

"The one where you're pretending everything's fine because it's not _fine_! I _know_!" Ari stalks forward, anger boiling to the surface. Judy walks backwards into the yard, stumbling down the steps and starting to look worried. It's probably the most honest look Ari's seen from her since they met. "I know that you didn't try to fight for me, to take me with you when you left Ron. You left me to that nightmare for years. Do you know what it was like? The things he did to me?"

Anger flashes in Judy's eyes. "Yes, I do know what it's like. I had to endure it long before you were even born."

"Did he ever become so deluded that he forgot who you were?" Ari asks, approaching Judy with her anger, fear, and pain at the memories, making Judy back up again. "Did he ever believe you were someone else to fit his own little fantasy? He wanted you back so desperately that he started calling me _your_ name and then he tried to rape me!"

Judy's anger dissolves at her shock. "He…He really tried to…?"

"Yes, he did, and you left me to that. Why? Why didn't you take me with you?"

Judy straightens, composing herself. "I couldn't take you with me," she says defensively. "Eric didn't want kids. Never has. Taking you with me would have made it harder to get away from your father. Eric may not have helped me if I had insisted anymore. I would have taken you with me if he had let me, Arianna, I swear."

Tears sting at the backs of Ari's eyes, pressing and insistent. So she was a burden they couldn't be bothered with? Eric didn't want her and that was it for Judy? "I guess you just went from one controlling relationship to another, huh?" she says quietly, throat tight. "Eric just decided that for you and you didn't fight him."

"But Arianna, baby, that's why I'm here now," Judy pleads. "I'm here to make things right."

"No, you're not!" Ari yells and Judy snaps her mouth shut. "You're here because your new husband's company is failing and you are here trying to get money."

"No, I-"

"Stop lying to me! I know about the reporter. I know you're using our relationship in order to sell a story. You don't care about me. You just care about yourself. That's all you've ever cared about."

In the span of a moment Judy's face changes. Her pleading and hurtful look from Ari's accusations sheds away like layers of skin to reveal the disgusting truth underneath; irritation, disappointment, and disgust. "We could give you so much, Arianna. You could _become_ so much. You have the potential to become someone big in this world, someone to be remembered in history and we can make you into that."

"You mean _you_ can be remembered in history."

"Well, I am your mother and Eric is-"

"Eric isn't my anything. And you are _not_ my mother. I have a mother already and her name is Sarah Lennox and Will Lennox is my father and the Autobots are my family. You are nothing to me, and I will make sure you get nothing from being the person who gave birth to me." Ari turns around, feeling her control slipping. "I suggest you leave now before I ask the Autobots to make you leave."

"Arianna, I-"

"Leave!" Her shout is accompanied by several loud revs and she hears Judy scramble away to her car and drive off. She closes her eyes shut tight against the tears but mostly against the concerned voices starting to surround her asking her if she's alright, because she's not alright, none of this is fragging alright! Everything goes silent then and maybe that last part wasn't quite all in her head and before the next thought even fully forms she's running away, from all of the people who she just called her family, because she can feel a piece of herself breaking inside of her and she doesn't know what to do. Pain builds in her chest with every dull beat of her heart and she's not sure if it's because her breath is caught in her lungs on a sob she's holding back or if it's the death of the little Witwicky girl inside of her who just wanted her mom back. Her foot catches on something because her eyes are still closed and she's not watching where she's going. She falls to the ground with a hard thud and the air gets knocked out of her, freeing the sob that wanted to escape. Many more sobs soon follow and she cries out to everything she wanted and everything she lost, the scream tearing through her until her throat is too raw for noise and then she just curls in on herself, face pressed to the ground, and silently weeps.

The ground rumbles from approaching Autobot feet and she curls even more in on herself. She just wants to be left alone. Coulson was right, again, sadness and anger can be evils all on their own and right now they are threatening to consume her. She wishes Judy hadn't left yet so that Ari could yell at her, slap her, demand her to take back everything, anything to make Judy understand what she did wrong. But that's not going to happen. Judy won't understand, and none of those things will make the pain Ari feels go away. She's not sure it ever will. Right now, lying on the ground with tears slipping into the grass, it feels like she won't ever be okay again.

Voices reach her ears, recognizable but distant. The Autobots, her parents. They're probably talking about her, but she doesn't listen, just wishes they would go away. They don't leave but they don't approach her either. She gets the feeling that her inside voice got outside again and they heard her demand to leave her alone. Nothing they can do will make this better and they can't understand how she feels.

A door in her mind opens all on its own and the AllSpark sweeps her into a memory thousands of years older than her. She sees Cybertron, but it's not the smoking warzone that sometimes haunts her nightmares. All of the towering scrapers are whole and pristine, there is no rubble or holes from cannon fire, and the city lights are all lit up, twinkling like starlight. And then Ari realizes that the Autobots do understand betrayal, all too well. Here, in this memory, there are no Autobots or Decepticons, just Cybertronians. They laugh together, help each other, live together in peace as a species. As a family. They were so happy. But then came the first betrayal, Megatron, and so many soon followed, tearing their peace, their happiness, apart with blood. Families killed each other because of greed and power and the Decepticons' belief that all other species are inferior. And they still do. With every battle the Autobots are forced to face people they wish they did not have to fight.

How do the Autobots handle this, the hurt and betrayal? How do they deal with the pain every day? Ari has been brought to her knees feeling like she will never be able to get up again, but the Autobots have marched on for centuries. How? How can they be so strong?

**"This is the last night you'll spend alone**   
**Look me in the eyes so I know you know**   
**I'm everywhere you want me to be"**

Ari's looks up at the sound of the music and sees a familiar scene with Sideswipe in his alt mode, driver's door opened, and the radio playing a familiar song. She raises her head, tears drying on her face. Behind him are the rest of the Autobots and her parents, standing by anxiously but a steady presence. This is how they survived, by sticking together, being there for one another, and reminding each other that they are not going through this alone and that all is not lost.

**"The last night you'll spend alone**   
**I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go**   
**I'm everything you need me to be"**

No, all is not lost. Ari still has a family. She still has Sideswipe. And she grasps at the truth that Coulson was trying to give her, that even though there is evil in the world, there are still those ready and willing to protect others from it. Evil has still touched her, but she has people with her who are here for her to make sure the evil doesn't consume her. She shouldn't push them away, instead she should let them lift her up. More tears spring to her eyes as she pushes herself to sitting on her knees. And then she holds her arms out to Sideswipe. Instantly, he transforms, scooping her up into his arms and holding her close. She clings to him, pressing herself against his metal, his warmth, feeling him surround her as his hand cups the back of her head, fingers stroking through her hair.

"I've got you, sweetspark," Sideswipe whispers into her ear. "I'm here for you. You don't have to go through this alone. I'm here for you."

" _We_ are here for you," Optimus says. He and the others gather around, Will and Sara sitting on Ironhide's shoulders. "We will always be here for you." And then they come together into the biggest group hug ever to take place in the history of Earth, but it is definitely the best. Warmth fills her heart, pushing back the pain, and maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay. Not today, but someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Judy is a lying aftpipe like most of you kind of figured but hoped would turn out to be wrong. Yeah...I'm a bad person. Anyway, a lot of heavy stuff, I've been really mean to Ari lately, but I will make it up to both her and you next chapter. Healing needs fluff afterall. And sorry that there wasn't much of the Autobots this chapter, I didn't really realize it until I reread it, but it kind of fit in my mind anyway. This had nothing to do with them. This was something Ari had to do and face all on her own. But moving on doesn't have to be like that. Hence the mention of fluff.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!


	44. What It Means to Be Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't have a whole lot of time so just go onward and enjoy!

Ari wonders aimlessly along the catwalk through the N.E.S.T. base, enjoying the activity surging around her, something that once would have made her nervous but is now a comforting background noise, keeping her mind from wondering to places she doesn't want it to. They finished setting the catwalks up about a week ago creating a series of pathways for humans so they are safely out of the way of Cybertronian feet but still low enough to talk face to face with the Autobots. When her feet end up taking her to the training room, she leans against the railing to watch the most recent batch of recruits below her standing at attention in front of Ironhide and Jolt. The sheet of specially reinforced glass that usually separates the human and Autobot sides of the room is now lifted away to suspend against the ceiling like a garage door allowing them access to the entire space. Silently she watches a team of seasoned N.E.S.T. soldiers demonstrate with Jolt the way to take down a Decepticon using grappling hooks with Ironhide narrating the steps. Working together, the team effortlessly takes down Jolt, pulling on the ropes until he falls to the ground with a resounding thud that makes her wince, remembering all too well when Sector Seven did that to Sideswipe.

But these soldiers know who the good guys and bad guys are. They fight for what is right. And a part of Ari wishes she could be down there with them.

It's been a month since Judy was kicked out of the state of Nevada. And it's literally the state, Coulson assured her. But it's still been difficult for Ari to pick the pieces of herself back up. Not one ounce of her had ever cared for her father, so when things ended with him she was relieved. With her mother, however, she had always held out hope. So the process is slow. She talks to her parents and the Autobots and Sideswipe, no longer pushing them away. More often than not she sleeps atop Sideswipe's chassis at night instead of in a bed, even when at home. Most of the anger has melted away by now but there is still a crushing sadness that makes it hard for her to move, almost like she's swimming through molasses as she goes about the day. She's cried more often in the past weeks than she ever thought herself capable of anymore and she's tired of it. She's tired of feeling sad, she's tired of feeling weak, she's tired of feeling defenseless and incapable of overcoming this. She wants to be strong like she promised herself she would be, but is she strong? With each day that the sadness lingers, holding her back, she wonders if she really is.

Her phone suddenly rings, yanking her from her thoughts, and she takes it out of her back pocket to see Lina's cross-eyed face on the screen, bringing a smile to her face as she answers. "Hey, Lina."

"Are you sure you can't come back?" Lina says without preamble, a question she's asked at least a dozen times by now.

Ari laughs. "No, Lina, I can't go back to school. We've been over this. Between the press and all of the stares from our classmates I'll never have a minute of peace. There's a reason celebrity kids don't go to normal schools. And we still don't know where that leak came from."

Coulson had thought that the leak had been Judy, but that turned out not to be true. He intercepted her on her way back to California for interrogation and discovered that Judy did not find out where Ari lives on her own. She had received a phone call from an unidentifiable man. S.H.I.E.L.D. believes it is this man that also released where she goes to school to the press, but they were unable to trace the phone number. For now, he's in the wind.

"I know but I…it…," Lina's voice dips low. "After Egypt and everything how am I supposed to just go on with life like everything's normal? No one here understands, even if I could tell them. I need you for girl talk."

"We're talking right now."

"It's not the same!"

Ari rolls her eyes, smirking. "I miss you too, Lina."

Lina sighs. "Well, at least that agent friend of yours got Res. Life to let me have our room all to myself, so that's a plus."

"You're probably the only freshman with a single dorm. You using the extra space to further your online empire?"

"Actually, I've shut TheRealEffingDeal dot com down."

Ari straightens in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Like I said, I couldn't just meet the Autobots and go back to trying to spill all their secrets. Especially after I saw how the world was handling you spilling secrets. People like this Maxwell guy aren't handling it very well at all and the Autobots don't deserve that when all they've ever done is help us. So, I'm going to use my powers for good now."

"Oh, Primus, what are you scheming?"

"Nothing much," Lina says mischievously. "Maybe some sabotage of Maxwell's site."

"Lina!"

"Oh, come on, you know he deserves it. It's not right, what he's saying about the Autobots. He's making them out to be monsters but," her voice grows quieter, more vulnerable, "they've saved my life. All of our lives. Even his if you think about it. They don't deserve that."

Ari smiles softly to herself, thankful in ways she cannot express, but then Lina clears her throat and the moment passes because that's as close as Lina's ever going to get to showing that, even though she acts all tough on the outside, she's really all gooey on the inside.

"Anyway," Lina continues on normally as if nothing happened, "how have you been since you kicked that pit-spawn to the curb?"

Ari rubs the back of her neck tiredly. She had told Lina everything not long after it happened, curled up on her bed with a big fluffy blanket and a cup of hot chocolate for what turned out to be her last night in their dorm. She had sneaked back on campus under the noses of the press so she could pack up her stuff to take back home. Lina talked her into staying the night and then talked her into spilling out why she looked like someone stole all her books. It was surprisingly nice to tell an outsider everything. She felt, in a way, almost lighter by the time the last words left her mouth and the hot chocolate had long since turned cold. Lina then started to curse Judy out in every way she knows how and dubbed her the pit-spawn. It brought the first real laugh out of Ari in a while.

"I've been alright I guess," Ari answers. "Been trying to keep busy. My online classes have started up so that helps."

"And how's that working out for ya?"

"Honestly? Not very well. Even college level work isn't taking me very long to get through. I need something, I don't know, _more_." Her eyes slip down to the recruits again, a couple of them stepping up to try their hand at taking down Jolt. Again, she wonders what it would be like to join them, to not just be a civilian but a soldier, learning how to fight for herself instead of depending on others.

"What you _need_ is to get out and have some fun. When's the last time you went somewhere besides the base?"

"Uh," she thinks about if for a moment, "not since I visited you and picked up my stuff."

"That was weeks ago!" Lina sighs heavily into the receiver. "Ari, you can't let what happened with the pit-spawn put a stop on the rest of your life. You need to go out there, take life by the horns, and enjoy the ride. I know it's a lot of heavy stuff you're dealing with but wallowing in it isn't going to help you move on."

Ari leans a hip against the railing, looking down at her sneakers. She knows Lina is right. She wants to be strong enough to push through this, but it's just so much easier said than done. "So what do I do?" she asks quietly.

"Easy, you pass your phone to Sideswipe so I can get his aft in gear. Honestly, this is something he should have done ages ago."

"Okay," she says slowly. "I'll see if he's back from patrol yet. Hold on." Pressing the phone against her stomach, Ari casts one more longing look at the recruits and then makes her way to the main hanger. She hopes that whatever Lina has in mind is something she's actually going to enjoy. It better not be clubbing. Lina loves a good party. She prays to Primus it isn't clubbing.

When she enters the main hanger she spots Sideswipe right away near the entrance talking to Optimus, probably giving his report on his patrol. She catches his optics and waves with a small smile. He smiles back and then returns his attention to Optimus. Once he's finished the two bots part with a nod and Sides comes over to her. Her smile widens and she holds out a hand to him, carefully leaning over the railing. He rolls close to the catwalk so her hand can rest against the side of his face and then lead him closer to her for a kiss. The warmth from his spark spreads all throughout her, curling her toes, and when they pull apart she lets out a contented hum.

"Hey, sweetspark," he says, his optics glowing brightly, "miss me?"

She chuckles. "Oh, of course. But Lina's been keeping me company." She gestures towards the phone."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Actually, she wants to talk to you."

"Okay," he says, his confusion making it sound more like a question. "About what?"

"Don't know. You'll have to ask her yourself." Ari then holds out the phone between them and puts it on speaker.

"Hey, Lina," Sides says. "What's up?"

"You have a lot of explaining to do, mech," Lina says accusingly.

Sideswipe looks at Ari questioningly but she just shrugs her shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"How long has the Battle of Egypt been over?"

"Er, two months almost?"

"Exactly. I seem to remember there being a promise you made Ari about taking her to some observatory-thingy and hitting the beach when everything was over. Well, it's _been_ over. For almost two months. Seriously, what is wrong with you? You two are in a relationship, you even did the I-love-yous, but you still haven't even gone on a date?"

Sideswipe shifts uncomfortably on his wheels, casting Ari a nervous glance. "But with Judy and everything-"

"No! You are not going to let this pit-spawn ruin anything else for the two of you. You are going to mech up and ask Ari out. And Ari!"

"Yes?" Ari says, feeling her face heat up.

"You are going to say yes. No excuses! If it doesn't happen within the next week I'm gonna sic Skids and Mudflap on you, got it?"

They both cringe at that and reply together, "Got it."

"Good. Talk to you later, chica, and have fun!" And then the line goes dead.

Ari gives Sideswipe a tentative smile as she puts her phone away. Primus, she hasn't felt this nervous around him in a long time, but Lina's lack of subtlety has put her on edge. But it has brought up a question Ari didn't even realize she's been wanting to ask.

"Hey, Sideswipe?" she asks.

"Yeah, Ari?" he says, sounding just as nervous as she is which is strangely comforting.

"Why _haven't_ you asked me on a date yet?"

"Well, you…I…," he sighs deeply. "After the press conference and then what happened at your school and then everything with Judy, you were going through a lot. I wasn't sure if you were ready and I didn't want to push."

Ari nods. She gets that, glad he's understanding. Things have certainly not been easy lately. But Lina's words get to her. She doesn't want the "pit-spawn" to ruin anything else. She doesn't want to put her life on hold. Her and Sideswipe have just found each other, they've just started. Ari does not want Judy to keep her from this any longer. And she can't be strong if she doesn't try to be.

"You know what, Sides," she says, feeling lighter than she's felt in weeks, "I think I might be ready."

A hopeful smile spreads across his faceplates. "Really?"

She smiles back, her own hope and excitement bubbling up in her stomach. "Yeah."

"Alright then. We should do this right then." He clears his throat dramatically. "Ari, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?"

Her smile widens to a grin. "I would love to."

* * *

There is still a lot of paranoia that the Decepticons will try to come after Ari again, even with their recent defeat. Defeat has certainly never stopped them before, and with Megatron still being alive this time there's no telling what they are planning next or when they will strike. Still, it is a lot easier than Ari thought it would be to convince the others to allow her and Sideswipe to travel out of state for the day. In fact, the others are fully for it. They're probably just happy to see she's taking one step further out of the rut she's been in and she certainly can't argue with that. She hasn't been this excited in a long time.

That doesn't mean that they still aren't taking precautions though. Sunstreaker and Jazz go with them as extra protection, just in case. She understands, she really does, but this is a date. She wants to be able to have some alone time with Sideswipe. And having two shadows following them around is going to make that extremely difficult. But Jazz promises he and Sunstreaker will keep their distance. She just rolls her eyes in exasperation and nods, because that's probably not going to help much but it's not like she really has a choice. It's the thought that counts at least.

The Saturday after Sideswipe asked her out the four of them hit the road for southern California. They leave early in the morning since it will take them a couple of hours to get there and they want to spend as much time in California as possible. They time it so that they will arrive at the beach by ten 'o clock, before the worst of the heat can descend. During the drive Ari takes advantage of the tinted windows and not having to drive, leaning back in her seat to catch a few more Z's. Sideswipe understands her aversion for the early morning hours and simply turns the radio to a soft jazz station with the volume down low, allowing her to drift.

"Ari," Sideswipe says softly what feels like not long later but the stiffness of her body tells her that's it's been quite a while. "We're here."

She sits up in her seat, rubbing groggy eyes, and looks out the windshield. In front of them is a line of sand dunes running from left to right farther than she can see, dusted with long shoots of grass. A wooden boardwalk cuts through them, leading up and over the dunes to the other side. She gets out of Sideswipe's alt mode slowly, and as soon as she opens the door she is bombarded by a swift wind saturated with seawater, the dampness and scent filling her lungs and soaking into her skin. An excited tingle goes down her spine. She's seen the ocean before, a vast expanse of blue going on for miles, but for some reason this feels different than seeing it from a Navy ship. This time, she can hear seagulls screeching as they search for their morning meals. She can hear the roaring crash of waves colliding with the shore. It feels peaceful here, which is something that a part of her has really needed lately, and can't really exist surrounded by soldiers and guns.

The trunk closes with a loud thump and she turns to see Sideswipe's holoform carrying their large tote bag filled with beach supplies and an umbrella, already dressed in his swim trunks. She's already in her swimsuit as well, hidden beneath a dress cover up. "Ready?" he asks, his own voice filled with excitement.

She takes his hand when he reaches her, smiling widely. "Yeah. Let's go."

Together, they climb up the boardwalk, and when they reach the other side of the dunes they stop to stare at the amazing sight neither of them have ever actually seen before. Yellow-white sand shines brightly in the sunlight, almost blindingly, causing Ari to slip on her sunglasses from where they were perched on her head. The water is a brilliant blue, almost as bright as Sideswipe's optics, with white sea foam frothing up when the waves lap at the shore. The seagulls she heard seem to almost float on the wind as gentle as bubbles, occasionally dropping low to dip their beaks into the water to catch a fish.

"Wow," Ari says softly, "it's beautiful."

"Yeah," Sideswipe says just as quietly, as if talking too loudly would disturb this place in some way.

They continue down the boardwalk until their bare feet sink into the sand, warm from the sun. Ari wiggles her toes, feeling the grains of sand between them, and suppresses a giggle. She feels as young as Annabelle discovering something new, but she might as well be. This is something she's never had the chance to experience before because of how she grew up. But she's going to enjoy the discovery to the fullest.

They settle down on a spot about halfway down the beach, setting up the umbrella and laying out towels for them to lie on. They certainly don't want for space considering the beach is completely empty of all other people. The night before, Ari got a surprising call from Natasha Romanoff. Somehow she found out about the events with Judy and their planned trip. Though, really, it shouldn't be a surprise. She is a spy after all. Anyway, Romanoff called to offer up a beach for them to go to: Tony Stark's private beach. Apparently, Romanoff knows Stark and is friends with Pepper Potts. Romanoff asked Potts and she gave them permission to use the beach for the day.

"Stark wanted to put up a fight," Romanoff said, "but Pepper put an end to it pretty quick. They're in New York right now anyway. So go. Have fun. It helps me to get away after a bad mission sometimes. Hopefully it helps you, too."

Ari's not sure why Romanoff did this. She doesn't seem like the type to help practical strangers for no reason, but Ari gets the feeling it's because she knew Coulson. Well, knows. Ari was so tempted, yet again, to tell her Coulson is still alive, but she managed to bite her tongue. Coulson needs to do it himself. Besides, Romanoff probably wouldn't have believed her anyway. But Ari is grateful to her all the same, and if she ever actually meets Pepper Potts she has a lot of thanking to do to her as well. They have some privacy. They don't have to censure their conversations so they can talk about whatever without worrying about anyone overhearing them, and the Autobots can transform if they want. But for right now Jazz and Sunstreaker are staying next to Sideswipe's alt mode and Sideswipe is staying in his holoform.

It's easier to make a sandcastle like this after all.

Sideswipe and Ari are sitting underneath the shade of their umbrella, building a sandcastle in front of them. Or, at least, trying to. Right now it kind of just looks like a sand mountain.

Ari chuckles uncertainly. "I don't think we're doing this right."

"Hmm." Sideswipe stares off into space, the blue of his irises dimming slightly as he looks something up. "According to the internet, water helps."

"Um, okay. Do we have a bucket?"

"Sarah gave us some stuff." He digs through the bag, pulling out some sand molds for towers and walls, and a large bucket. "Be right back."

He hurries out to the water, filling the bucket, and sits back down next to her. Only this time it feels like he's closer to her, with their thighs almost touching as they kneel on the ground. Or is it that she's just more aware? She looks at Sideswipe out of the corner of her eye. Holoforms are supposed to be a direct representation of a Cybertronian, coming from their very sparks. This is literally what Sideswipe would look like if he were a human. And he definitely makes a handsome human. He still makes her blush, like when she first saw him shirtless when he taught her how to swim. But even when he's fully clothed…she has no doubt in her mind she's attracted to him. She would worry that her feelings for him are just for his holoform, but when she sees him in his bipedal form her heart beats just as fast.

But still, his closeness to her now, especially since now they're together and their feelings are out in the open, has gotten her stomach spinning in circles like a carousel.

"You okay, Ari?" Sideswipe asks, smirking, and she knows he knows exactly what she's thinking about, making her blush even more. "You look a little red. Do you need some more sunscreen?"

"Oh, hush," she says with a playful shove. "I'm just fine. So what do we do now?"

He dumps the water from the bucket onto the sand, turning the grains dark. "There, that should help. I think."

"Well, let's find out."

They pick up lumps of sand in their hands, now cool and malleable, and put them into the molds. Sideswipe starts building towers while she works on a wall and moat. They work in comfortable silence as their sandcastle slowly starts to take shape. They take turns retrieving more water and by the time they're pouring the last bucket into the moat Ari has a good sweat coating her back and forehead.

She pulls out her phone to take a picture of the finished product, but after she snaps the photo and gets a good look at it her hands lower, her eyes shifting from the screen to the real thing. There's seven towers of varying heights set in a cluster, the tallest tower in the middle. But what makes her pause is the castle's defenses that she built. The moat is really wide and deep, reaching the darker sand and dirt underneath the bright white grains. The wall is high, higher than it needs to be. If small troops were ever to try to get into this castle, they'd never make it. With this kind of protection, no one would ever be able to get in.

She used to be like that. Closed off. She didn't let anyone in and Ron wouldn't let her either. She almost ended up like that again, after Judy. She closed down, pushed everyone away, building up walls she thought were gone, but she was able to build up the bricks again.

And just as that wall was going up, it was torn back down twice as fast.

Sideswipe suddenly tackles her to the ground with a roar that surprises her, making her think there's danger, but then his fingers are at her sides, tickling her, forcing peals of laughter out of her as she squirms. Their legs kick back and forth as she struggles to get away and he struggles to keep her pinned so he can tickle her, and then they hit something solid that gently gives. Well, there goes their sandcastle.

The tickling onslaught has her breathless from all her laughter and she employs one of the moves Chromia showed her to get the upper hand, pushing Sideswipe off of her so that she's on top. Sideswipe stills in surprise, eyes looking up at her wide, obviously not thinking her capable of throwing him like that. She gives him a smug grin and then she's up and running down the beach.

"Bet you can't catch me!" she yells over her shoulder and she doesn't have to look to know Sideswipe is up and chasing her without a moment's hesitation.

Sideswipe's long legs help him catch up in no time and when he does his strong arms wrap around her from behind. She screams in laughter as he lifts her off the ground. They're right next to the water now and she doesn't have to see his face to know he's wearing a mischievous grin.

"No, don't you dare-!" But it's too late. Sideswipe takes a few big steps and then tosses her into the water. She barely has enough time to take in a breath before she's submerged, the place where he's tossed her plenty deep enough to break her fall and get her completely soaked. And it's icy cold. She stands up, the water coming up to her chest, and glares at Sideswipe as he laughs. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" She wipes away the strands of hair clinging to her face and stalks towards him.

His laughing stops. "Oh, slag."

He takes off down the beach and now she's chasing him, intentionally pulling on the extra speed the AllSpark has granted her and pushes herself to go faster. As soon as she's close enough she launches herself onto his back, her legs going around his waist and her arms around his neck.

"Slag, Ari, I thought you were a human, not a monkey," he says as he staggers around, arms trying to reach behind him to grab him but he doesn't try very hard, probably too afraid to hurt her. She takes advantage, moving one of her arms to cover his eyes. He lets out a funny squawk, trying a little harder to get her off but she has too good a grip on him. His staggering takes them out into the water and when they're out far enough Ari tips herself back, causing Sideswipe to go off-balance, and they both tumble into the water. Ari breaks the surface first, shivering, but she can't find it in herself to care right now.

"Holy frag," Sideswipe says when he stands, shaking water from his hair like a dog. "This water is freezing. Why did we come when the water's so cold?"

Ari laughs, shaking her head. "The Pacific Ocean is huge, Sideswipe. It would take a lot of sunlight to warm it up enough to where it didn't feel cold, and considering we came so close to the beginning of Fall, I highly doubt it's going to get very warm any time today."

"Let's get out of here then."

She squeaks in surprise when he lifts her into his arms, carrying her over to their spot on the beach and setting her down beside him on their towels. Her coverall is drenched so she takes it off, leaving her in her bathing suit, still wet but better. Sideswipe pushes the umbrella aside and lies down on his back. She lies down as well, burrowing into his side with a contented sigh, and placing her head on his shoulder as his arm wraps securely around her waist. They close their eyes, allowing the sun's heat to warm and dry them off.

She smiles. Sideswipe is good at breaking down her walls and making her laugh. She just hopes he'll always be here to do it when she needs it.

* * *

Around noon they pull out the picnic lunch of sandwiches Ari packed for them, Sideswipe stealing bites every so often. Once done they pack up their things, Ari stopping at the big white tent near where they parked that houses showers and changing stalls. She quickly goes through the shower, washing the sand and sea salt from her hair and skin, but takes her time drying her hair, trying to get it as dry as possible. She then looks at the clothes she brought. She had worried over what to pack, not really sure what to wear for her first date. The beach was easy, but now they're going to an observatory. It's the kind of place that's going to be swamped with tourists, not exactly something one would normally dress up for, but she picked Romanoff's brain a little when the agent called. Using Skype, together they went through Ari's clothes until they found what Romanoff believes to be the perfect compromise of casual and dressy.

Over her undergarments, Ari pulls on a cotton dress, gray leggings, and gray ankle boots. It's a rather simple outfit, the dress is just a solid blue-green without any designs, but the way it hugs in the bodice and flares out into the skirt at her hips, the dress accentuates her curves beautifully. The neckline is scooped modestly in the front and then dips down low in the back. That, coupled with the fact that the cap sleeves are just barely on her shoulders, makes it necessary for her to wear a strapless bra which is something she doesn't normally wear, but she has to admit, the combined effect makes her look really good.

She just hopes Sideswipe thinks so, too.

Gathering up her stuff, Ari heads outside to Sideswipe's alt mode. His holoform is perched on the hood with a small smile and closed eyes, his face turned into the wind. He looks as if he's just freshly left the house without any traces on him of spending the day at the beach. He's dressed up a little bit, too, with a collared, dark blue dress shirt tucked into jeans, the top few buttons left open, and a black leather jacket. Ari's mouth goes dry. He looks really good, too. Really, _really_ good.

Pushing her nervousness aside, she goes to his alt mode's trunk, opening it herself to put the rest of her things in their bag. When she closes it Sideswipe is no longer at the hood but standing next to the driver's side door, looking right at her. With the trunk lid no longer hiding her he now has a good view, and his eyes widen when he sees her. Wordlessly, he holds out a hand to her and she takes it, allowing him to pull her out in front of him so he can see all of her. His eyes roam up and down her form and she has no idea what he's thinking and it's making her even more nervous.

A large grin then spreads across his face as he lifts her hand above her head. "Spin for me."

She lets out a relieved laugh and obliges, the skirt of her dress flaring out as she turns. "You like it?"

"Of course I like it," he says, drawing her to him until he can place his hands on her hips, holding her close. Automatically, her hands move to rest on his chest and she looks up at him a little bit shyly. His eyes soften as he looks down at her and one of his hands rises to stroke along her jaw with the backs of his fingers. "You're beautiful."

It feels almost as if the fiery trail left behind from his touch spreads out all across her skin with her blush. This isn't the first time Sideswipe has called her beautiful, he has on many occasions, but she can't help but wonder if he truly sees her that way. If he truly thinks she's beautiful. They're two different species, so his idea of a beautiful woman, or femme, should be something metal, not flesh. And yet, the way he's looking down at her, blue eyes hot and spark thrumming rapidly beneath her hand, she can't help but believe he really does find her beautiful, and it's not like he would _ever_ lie to her.

"Thank you," she says softly. Before she loses her nerve, she stretches up on her toes to kiss him lightly on the cheek. It's the most intimate contact she's managed yet. It sends a slight tingle of nerves crawling across her skin, but the bright smile that blooms across Sideswipe's face when she pulls away makes it totally worth it and that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't so bad after all. And maybe something she wouldn't mind doing again sometime.

* * *

It's mid-afternoon by the time they make it to the Griffith Observatory. The parking lot is pretty packed, forcing them to park a good ways down the slope and walk up but they don't mind. The observatory is settled on one of the slopes of Mount Hollywood and is home to a breathtaking view. From here they can see the Pacific Ocean, the city of Los Angeles sprawled out before them, and the famous Hollywood sign. And then there's the building itself. It stands majestic, like a monument, all white stone with three brown domes, one small one on either wing and a large one atop the main building. In front of the observatory is a grassy courtyard and Ari drags Sideswipe to a stop in the middle of it, turning them around and taking a picture of them pressed together, smiling, with the observatory in the background. She instantly sends the picture in a text message to Lina with just two words: _"Thank you."_

A couple seconds later she gets Lina's reply. _"No problem, Ari, always happy to meddle. Looks like you're having fun and I hope you have a lot more."_ Just as Ari and Sideswipe are heading through the front doors of the observatory another message from Lina pings on her phone. _"Oh, and one more thing. If you get the urge to take the next step, don't be afraid to do it. I know you might think it's scary, but don't be afraid. You know he'll never hurt you."_

Ari frowns down at her phone, unsure what Lina is saying. What next step? And of course Sideswipe won't hurt her; he would never. Shaking her head, she pushes it to the back of her mind as she slips her phone back into her messenger bag. Maybe it'll make more sense later. Or she'll just ask Lina what the Pit she's talking about.

When they step into the lobby of the observatory, it is very easy to let any lingering thoughts on Lina's text to fall out of her mind. They stand in a rotunda, the room rounded into an octagon, and on the vaulted ceiling is a beautiful mural. Several figures are depicted across a dark blue night sky, the artwork reminding Ari of the Renaissance. She recognizes the Greek god Atlas in his struggle to hold up the world, the four winds, the planets in the solar system personified as gods, and the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Below the ceiling, bordering the wall, are eight smaller rectangular murals showing mankind's advancement in technology and science throughout time.

In the center of the room is a pit in the floor where a pendulum swings. A huge bronze ball suspended from the ceiling by a long cable constantly sways back and forth, the sign before the display explaining how the ball constantly moves in the same direction as the building moves with the rotation of the Earth. The ball's path is unaffected by the Earth's movements since it is suspended in midair, which means that as the ball swings the floor moves below it. Pegs stand in a circle in the pit and as the day goes by and the Earth revolves, the ball knocks the pegs down one by one marking the passage of time.

"Wow," Ari says quietly in awe. "This place is amazing."

Sideswipe chuckles. "Yeah, it is. And we haven't even made it out of the first room yet."

Someone accidentally bumps into Ari's back and she staggers a step forward, making her finally pay attention to just how many people are in here. The place is packed, people unavoidably brushing elbows and moving at a shuffling pace as they move in and out of the rotunda, almost as bad as at a theme park. The sudden awareness of others' proximity instantly sets Ari on edge, her shoulders and spine tensing uncomfortably as she wraps her arms around herself in an effort to make herself smaller.

A hand touches her hip, making her flinch, but then she realizes whose it is. "Don't worry, sweetspark," Sideswipe whispers in her ear, wrapping his arm tightly around her and drawing her into his side. "I've got you."

She swallows thickly but nods, slipping her arm around him behind his back. Already, she feels some of her anxiety leaving her. She didn't really think about how bad the crowds would be when wanting to come to this place. Although her and Sideswipe's plan for desensitizing her to touch has come a long way, she still has a hard time handling crowds. And Sideswipe was right, back when they first talked about it atop the Hoover Dam, she probably won't ever really be able to handle crowds like normal. But at least, this time, it's easy to let Sideswipe help her through it.

When the worst of it passes she smiles up at him. "Thank you."

"Always." He presses a kiss to her forehead. "Come on, let's go check out some of these exhibits."

They explore the rest of the observatory together, going from one wing of the building to the other learning about outer space. One wing is called the Hall of the Eye, taking them through the years of human observation of the sky and the tools used for that exploration. The other wing is the Hall of the Sky, detailing the Sun and the Moon and how the two celestial orbs interact with and affect the Earth. But Ari's absolute favorite part is the planetarium.

Several times a day shows take place in the planetarium underneath the huge dome of the observatory. Ari and Sideswipe buy tickets to the show called _Centered in the Universe_. When it's time for the show they file into the planetarium, a big, circular room with a domed ceiling. Plush seats like in a movie theater sit in circled rows around the room facing a big mechanical sphere in the center, the projector, which has several lenses pointing in every direction. They take their seats, and when the show begins the lights dim, they lean back to stare at the ceiling, and the dome explodes with the colorful lights of the universe as their presenter takes them through the story of the heavens, both their own and those far away.

Sometime during the show Sideswipe takes her hand and she weaves her fingers together with his, a small smile on her face.

By the time the show ends it is nighttime, surprising both of them that they've spent several hours in the observatory, but they aren't done yet. At night, the observatory takes out the telescopes on the roof, and guides help people find the stars and planets they want to find. The lines for them are pretty long but they are content to wait, still holding hands and talking about plans for another prank.

It's been an amazing day. Better than she ever could have possibly expected, almost like a dream. She's wanted to come to the Griffith Observatory ever since she was a little girl. One of her teachers in elementary school had been here and told them about it when they did the chapter on astronomy in science. Her teacher made it sound like such an amazing place, like all of the universe's secrets could be discovered inside the domed building. And Ari certainly hasn't been disappointed, except that she knows there's so much more out there and she wants to find out _what_. There are Cybertronians and Chitauri and Thor, but what else is waiting out there to be discovered? These telescopes and the whole of human knowledge just don't reach far enough. But she hungers for more.

When it is Ari's turn at the telescope she bends down to look into the eyepiece. It is pointed at the moon, tonight a full moon, allowing her to see the white surface's valleys and craters in beautiful detail.

Her vision swims for a second, going dark at the edges, and before she even realizes what's happening one of the doors in her mind flies open, sucking her in so fast she lets out a gasp. She's not looking at the moon through the telescope anymore. She's standing _on_ the moon. She looks around, mouth gaping as she takes it all in, but the AllSpark doesn't linger here long before it is pulling her further through space. She's shown the ice caps on Mars, the gaseous storms of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, and all of the other planets in the solar system, but then she goes even further, beyond the planets and Sun she knows. She's shown planets and stars she's never seen before, never knew even existed, but the AllSpark provides names for her. She sees Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Xandar, Asgard, and so, so many more, all of them taking her breath away. And all of them filled with life. Some of that life is very different than herself, than humans, than even Cybertronians, but she can tell through the glimpses she sees of the people that, even across the universe, they're not so different after all.

"Miss?" a voice says. "Miss, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," she manages to say, blinking rapidly to clear away the vision and bring herself back to reality.

She looks away from the telescope to see the star guide staring at her questioningly. "Is there anything I can help you find tonight?" he asks.

"No. I…um…." Her mind is still reeling, trying to process what she just saw and it's difficult to get a coherent thought out of her mouth. She reaches for Sideswipe's hand behind her and he grasps hers tightly. She thinks she hears Sideswipe tell the guide something but she's still can't quite focus and then they're moving away. He leads her away to an uncrowded corner of the roof and sits her down on the low wall around the roof's edge, keeping his hand steadily on her shoulders so she doesn't fall backwards.

"Ari?" he asks in concern, leaning down a little to look her in the eye. "Ari, you okay? Is it the AllSpark?"

His right hand moves down to inspect her AllSpark marks but she just takes his hand in hers, shaking her head. "Oh, Sideswipe," she says, eyes finally focusing away from her blank stare to look into his eyes with awestruck wonder. "The AllSpark, it…it showed me things. So, so many things. I've gone through some of the Knowledge before but this was so much more. It showed me galaxies and life and beauty beyond anything I have ever seen before. It showed me everything that's out there in space. I wish you could have seen it, Sides. It was all so amazing." She sighs in a mixture of happiness and longing. "I wish we could both go out and see it in person someday."

He smiles down at her wistfully. "I wish we could, too." He moves his free hand to stroke her cheek gently. "But you're okay? Really?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. The AllSpark just decided to show me some things." She squeezes his hand. "Thank you for today, Sides. This has been a wonderful date."

"I'm glad. I've had a lot of fun, too." His thumb brushes back and forth across her cheekbone, his eyes softening. "I love you, Ari."

"I love you, too," she says softly, and then Sideswipe's head is leaning down towards her. Her breath catches in her throat and all of a sudden she understands what Lina was talking about, not being afraid to take the next step. But she is afraid. She can feel herself freezing up, can feel the ghost of her father on top of her at the edges of her consciousness, and she's afraid the panic will overtake her. But then Sideswipe pauses, eyes searching hers. Looking for permission. Looking to make sure she's ready. If she wants this. And the ghost fades slightly. It's still there, in the back of her mind, but it's not so suffocating anymore. Because this is definitely not Ron before her, willing to wait until she's ready. Ron just took what he wanted. But not Sideswipe, her Sideswipe. So to answer his gaze she leans up the rest of the way until their lips meet.

The kiss is soft. Slow. Sweet. Almost hesitant, but she knows it's because Sideswipe is afraid to trigger a flashback and they remain closemouthed. Honestly, she's terrified of that, too. But she has a hold on the ghost and her hold is strong. So when Sideswipe pulls away, asking with his eyes if she's okay, she just grabs the edge of his jacket and brings his lips back down again.

* * *

Later, when they are on their way back home with Ari sitting in Sideswipe's lap in the passenger seat, sharing the occasional kiss, she thinks about what it means to be strong. She is strong to finally take the first step in moving on from the pain Judy inflicted. She is strong to fight against her insecurities, even the ones she may never be able to fully control. Even now, though, the ghost seems to get smaller and smaller.

But there are other kinds of strength. Physical strength. She knows she is strong, armed with Chromia's and Ironhide's training, but she knows she could be stronger. This happiness she's found, regained after the threat of almost losing it, she doesn't ever want anyone to be able to take it away. Not Judy or Galloway or Maxwell. Not the Decepticons. And she knows that, as far as the Decepticons are concerned, she is still weak against them. If they decided to attack again, if they tried to take away her happiness again, there would be nothing she could do.

So she will become stronger. Now that she has her happiness, she is going to do everything in her power to protect it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Primus, where do I begin?
> 
> So, we've got Lina and Romanoff being meddlers, which was a lot of fun.
> 
> And then we have the date! The beach scene was fun to write, especially when they were chasing each other. The observatory was a little difficult cause I've never actually been there before but it is totally on my bucket list. I should probably say though as a sort of disclaimer that all information I got about the Griffith Observatory was taken from their official site. I may have used some exacting words a couple of times from their descriptions of the different exhibits and stuff so, yeah, I no own. But they have a very informative site and it made writing this a lot easier.
> 
> And then the kiss...yeah, I wasn't originally going to have that quite yet but it just fit so well! She's taking some steps forward. :)
> 
> And then there's the ending. This is a lead-in for the next chapter. I'm sure you can probably guess what she's thinking of doing. If not, you'll just have to wait and see.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	45. No More Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit of a transition chapter, I guess, in order to go from the previous arc with Judy on to the next. I tried to add in some fluff and fun, though, so I hope you like it.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Nevada nights are starting to get colder. Even with a jacket on Ari can feel the biting chill. A shiver runs through her and Sideswipe's holoform tightens his arms around her. "Do you want to head back?" he says in her ear.

"No," she says quietly. "Not yet."

She feels him nod behind her and they lapse into comfortable silence again as they stare up at the stars. Neither of them feel the need to fill the silence with words, both of them just happy to be together and alone. At least, as alone as they ever actually can be with Sunstreaker and Ironhide following them around.

They went on another date, dinner and a movie, and they've stopped at what they consider to be their spot; the cliff outside of Tranquility where Sideswipe "sang" to her and she realized he wasn't just a normal car. They're sitting at the base of the single tree, Sideswipe leaning against the trunk and Ari sitting in his lap with her back against his chest. Their legs are stretched out in front of them, tangled together, and her head is tucked snugly beneath his chin with his arms wrapped around her waist and her arms on top of his.

Warmth and contentment fills Ari's chest despite the cold, a soft smile on her face. Things have been almost blissful lately. This is the third date in as many weeks they've been on. She can't remember ever feeling so happy, the hurts Judy inflicted almost healed. Ari doesn't need her biological mother in order to be happy. These past weeks are proof of that.

But she's afraid. Afraid of losing this happiness. It feels so fragile, like it could be swept away from her at any moment. She knows Judy can't touch her any more than Ron can, but there are other dangers. Worse dangers. The Decepticons are still out there somewhere. _Megatron_ is still out there somewhere. She feels so defenseless, and she would be if, _when_ , they come after her again. All she knows how to do is run. The more she thinks about it, the more she worries. The more she worries, the more she wishes she could do something about it. That's just it, though. She knows what she has to do, she's just afraid what the others will think, if they'll even be on board and accept her wishes.

"Nickle for your thoughts?" Sideswipe asks.

She giggles. "It's a penny, Sides, not a nickel."

"Oh, good, cause I don't have a nickel. Actually, on second thought, I don't have a penny either." She elbows him in the side playfully. "Alright, alright, not the point. Anyway, penny for your thoughts?"

She turns to sit on his lap sideways, wanting to better face him but not wanting to move out of his arms. Her left hand moves to his shoulder for support, nervously playing with the collar of the leather jacket he wears. She bites her lip. As soon as she voices her thoughts, there's no going back.

"Hey," he says softly, lifting a hand to her face to run his thumb across her lips until she releases her bottom lip from her teeth. He leans forward to gently kiss her, as if to kiss the slight pain away. "You know you can tell me anything."

She nods, her forehead pressed against his, and then leans back to stare into his blue, accepting eyes. She knows he's fine with whatever she decides but, slaggit, she is not a coward anymore and she will do this. "I want to sign up for N.E.S.T. training."

He blinks rapidly in shock, jaw clenching, apparently not expecting that. "What? Why?"

Ari steels herself, sitting straighter. She can already see him ready to argue against this but he _will_ hear her out. "I'm happy, Sideswipe. Like, really, really happy. The happiest I've ever been. And I'm terrified of losing that."

His eyes darken as he takes her face firmly between his hands. "You won't," he says fiercely, full of determination.

"Won't I?" she scoffs. "Can you really promise me that?" His grip on her face falters and she takes both of his hands in hers, lowering them but not letting go. "Sideswipe, you can't give me guarantees; you and I both know that. We've both almost lost each other and everything too many times. And when Judy showed up it felt like my happiness was slowly slipping away again. It felt like I almost lost even myself. I haven't been that scared since you almost died and I never want to feel that way again."

"And you really think becoming a soldier will help?" he says incredulously, voice never raising but his disapproval clear. "You don't have to be a soldier in order to deal with the slag Judy or anyone else throws at you."

"It'll help me to become stronger."

He sighs deeply. "Ari, I know we all have told you stories of some of the things we've been through. And, yeah, a lot of it was horrible. A lot of times we each thought we would lose each other or ourselves, but we were able to survive. But that kind of strength, it's not something that can be taught and it has nothing to do with being a soldier."

"I know that!" Frustrated, she gets up, no longer able to sit still. She goes to the cliff edge a few feet away to stare out at the night. The grasslands she knows are spreading out in front of her are obscured in darkness. The moon is hiding its face tonight and without its light the fields look like a sea of black, angry waters. "I know that, Sideswipe, but that's not what I'm talking about."

She can hear him get up as well but he doesn't approach. "Then what are you talking about? Help me understand, sweetspark."

"What happened with Judy," she says out into the sea, arms wrapped around herself, "it made me think about all of the times I've almost lost everything and everyone I care about. All of the battles, Mission City, Egypt, the attacks at school, getting kidnapped. All of those times, I couldn't help. I couldn't prevent any of it. All I could ever do was run and hope you or someone else got to me in time."

"We promised we would protect you. I will always protect you."

"But what if one day it's not enough? What if one day no one can get to me in time? Or something happens to you or one of the others and all I can do is watch? I'm tired of being helpless, Sideswipe." She turns towards him, her hands dropping to her sides to clench into fists and fire burns in her eyes. "I'm tired of just being along for the ride. I'm tired of not being able to help or do anything. I'm tired of being defenseless and helpless. If something happens again I want to be able to protect myself and all of you." Sideswipe still looks like he wants to argue but only a little now. He's caving, so she plays her last card. "I want to be able to stand with you, Sides. If I was a femme we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Femmes fight just like the mechs do."

He looks at her a little helplessly. "You are a lot more fragile than a femme, Ari."

"Maybe. But there are plenty of human women in N.E.S.T. and you're fine with them fighting. And I'll probably end up in a whole lot more danger than they ever will considering the Decepticons hate my guts." She goes to him, standing practically toe to toe, and takes both of his hands in hers again. "Come on, Sides, I really want your support on this. When Cybertronians are in a relationship, when they're Sparkmates, they have each other's backs. That's what I want. I want to be able to have your back like you always have mine."

With that the last of Sideswipe's resistance crumbles. He groans quietly as he leans down to allow his head to fall on her shoulder. She laughs softly, letting go of one of his hands in order to card her fingers through his hair.

He squeezes her hand tightly. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know," she says, "but that's exactly why I need to do this."

She feels him nod against her shoulder and then he lifts his head, placing a kiss on her shoulder, then her neck, then her cheek, then her forehead. Finally, he pulls back, looking down at her resignedly. But also a little proudly. "I'd be honored to have you at my back, Ari."

"Thank you." Her smile is big and wide and she feels proud of herself, too. The girl she used to be, before Sideswipe and aliens and the AllSpark, would never have had the courage to make this decision. She wouldn't have even had the courage to speak of the very idea aloud. But she is not that girl anymore. She is strong. And now, she plans on becoming even stronger.

* * *

"No, absolutely not," Will says, arms crossed in front of his chest and a deep scowl on his face. His words sound an awful lot like an order.

Ari won't be having any of that.

She raises her chin defiantly, crossing her own arms and mimicking Will's combative posture. They're in a stand-off atop the scaffold in the main hanger, all of the Autobots gathered around and Rob standing next to them. Rob looks amused, a hand covering his mouth to hold in laughter but Ari ignores him. She's just explained how she wants to undergo N.E.S.T. training, giving all the reasons she gave Sideswipe, but Will is proving to be far less understanding. How Rob is finding any of this funny, she has no idea.

"Why the Pit not?" Ari asks, anger seething. Will is her father and she loves him, but she just turned nineteen. She's not a little girl. "I have just as much of a right as everyone else."

"You have no reason to fight-"

"Of course I do! The Decepticons are after me; they'll always be after me."

"And if there is a reason to fight, the rest of us can handle it while you get away."

"That isn't always going to work and you know it. Besides, I'm not just going to stand back and watch other people risk their lives for me. Not if there's something I can do about it."

"Do you really think I want to watch my daughter become a soldier?" His voice cracks a little bit on the last word, the sound of it washing over her like cold water.

"I know, Dad," she says softly. "I know this isn't something you ever wanted for me. But this is something _I_ want for me."

Will gives a tired sigh, rubbing a hand roughly down his face before turning to Optimus. "What do you think about this, big guy?"

Optimus's optics look thoughtful, flitting back and forth between the two of them. "Will, I know this must be difficult for you. It is not easy knowing your sparkling wishes to put themselves in danger by becoming a soldier." He glances at Bumblebee for the briefest second. "This is something our people have had to go through many times since the beginning of this war until no sparklings were left. But right now you must not think as a father. Ari's logic is sound. She will always be in danger from the Decepticons and we may not always be able to protect her. It would be beneficial for her to learn to defend herself."

"But she has no training," Will says, pulling at threads desperately. "All new N.E.S.T. recruits have to at least go through boot camp before being stationed here. We can't just send her off to boot camp for a couple of weeks. It's too dangerous."

"Um, actually," Chromia says, shifting awkwardly on her wheel, "that probably won't be necessary."

Will looks at her with a mixture of anger and dread. "Why?" he asks through his teeth.

Ironhide looks to Chromia and she nods. "We've been training her," he says gruffly.

Will rolls his eyes. "Yeah, we all know that. Chromia gave her some self-defense training and you taught her how to fight with the knives Sides and Sunny gave her."

"We, uh, did more than that." Ironhide won't quite meet Will's eyes so Will looks to Ari with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," she says, not sure how to put this gently since she always knew he probably wouldn't like this. But Ironhide and Chromia had offered to teach her and she wanted to learn all that she could. "You say it's just self-defense when it's been more like hand-to-hand combat." He tilts his head to the side reluctantly in agreement. He's watched her spar with Chromia before. He knows she can actually fight, not just defend herself. But there were other things she's been taught that they never got around to being forthcoming to Will about. "And I've learned a lot more than knives."

Both of his brows raise to his hairline in shock. "How much more?"

Her shoulders haunch and she ducks her head slightly. "Pretty much every weapon in the armory."

He rounds on Ironhide accusingly. " _Why_?"

It had started out with her learning to disarm an attacker with a gun. Then it turned into making sure she wouldn't accidentally shoot her toes off once she got the gun, and then into learning how to actually use the gun. When she went with Ironhide to the shooting range in the training room and saw just how many different weapons they had, well, she turned curious. Then Ironhide figured he might as well just teach her all of it. Just in case, of course.

Of course, that's the excuse Ironhide gave her. The way he looks at her a little apologetically before answering makes her second-guess.

"Honestly, Will, we knew this day would come," Ironhide says placatingly. "That she would want to become a N.E.S.T. soldier. Her determination and readiness to learn only proved that. So, Chromia and I took it upon ourselves to make sure she was as thoroughly prepared as possible."

"We researched the typical requirements and regime for the standard boot camp," Chromia continues. "Both of us are quite confident that if Ari were to be tested, she would pass with flying colors. She could have months ago and has only ever improved since."

"Seriously?" Sideswipe says, getting riled up again even though he already agreed to allow Ari to do this. "You've been planning this, this entire time, and didn't tell any of us?"

Chromia snorts. "Of course not, because we knew how you would react: poorly." She glares up at Sideswipe, her short size making her no less capable of making him shrink. "We knew this was a possibility but the ultimate decision is hers. We just made sure she would be ready, whatever she decides."

"And I have decided," Ari says, grateful for Ironhide's and Chromia's forethought and support but tired of everyone talking about her as if she isn't there. "I want to undergo N.E.S.T. training."

Will grips the rail tightly with one hand, worry written all over his face. "I don't like this, kiddo."

She smiles at the endearment and goes to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. His arms wrap around her in return in a crushing hug. "I know you don't," she says against his chest. "But come on, Dad, it's not like I'm asking to be sent out on missions."

He holds her a little tighter. "Yet."

She pulls back so she can look up at him seriously. "No, Dad, I won't. I know where my place is. I'm meant to be the Autobot Ambassador, not a soldier. But that won't keep me from being in danger, or all of you from being in danger because of me. I just want to be able to protect myself and everyone else when I can. There are still more battles to come."

"And no way I can keep you out of them, huh?" he says with a half-smile. His attempt at humor is comforting and her shoulders sag slightly in relief. The worst of this is past.

"No, probably not," she chuckles softly. "I don't exactly ask to be caught up in the middle of everything but it always seems to happen anyway."

"Yeah," he says on a sigh. "Yeah, it does."

"So, will you help me?"

He gives her a long look, his face giving away nothing, but then nods. "Alright, but on two conditions."

Giddiness fills her to bursting but she contains it, biting on the inside of her cheek. "What? What do I need to do?"

Instead of answering he motions for her to follow him and she does, the others following behind them as well. He leads them to a section of the base Ari has never really had the occasion to go to. Behind the main building is an obstacle course that recruits must complete multiple times during their specialized training. It's set up in a large ring. There are hurdles, a climbing wall, monkey bars, tires, a section of chicken wire to crawl under, and a whole lot more, designed to test practically every muscle in the body.

"I want you to run the course," Will says after she gets a good long look, no longer her dad but a superior officer. "This is the sort of obstacle course that a lot of boot camps have. One of the requirements of new recruits is that, by the end of training before they officially join N.E.S.T., they have to be able to complete the course within a certain amount of time. Normally, they have weeks to train to get to our standards." He holds up three fingers. "You're going to run it today and I'm only going to give you three chances."

"What?" she protests. "Oh, come on, that's not fair!"

He just gives her an infuriating, challenging smirk. "Ironhide and Chromia say you're already N.E.S.T. material. Prove it."

She looks over the course again, a little intimidated. Sure, Chromia has been training her physically and she's in great shape, but she's never had to do anything like this before. But she wants this. Really wants this. "Fine," she says, mustering up all of the confidence she can, and turns to go to the locker room so she can change into her workout clothes. She changes quickly into the T-shirt and shorts, switching out her Converses for running shoes and pulling her hair up into a tight ponytail. When she returns everyone is still there, waiting for her, with Will and Rob standing at the starting line. Will looks at her expectantly but she first sits down on the dry desert ground and begins a series of warm-up stretches, feeling Chromia's approving gaze on her back. Once finished, she takes up position at the line.

"Alright, on three," Will calls out, loudly and clearly even though it's just her doing this. "One, two, three!"

Ari's legs propel her forward, running fast but she keeps herself in check, knowing she needs to preserve her energy if she's going to make it through the entire course, especially if she has to run it three times. She leaps over the first hurdle, passing over it with ease, and then after that she is a blur of movement and instinct, taking each challenge as they come and calculating the best way to proceed without ever slowing down.

It seems like hours by the time she makes it back to Will and Rob, jogging to a halt with heaving breaths, even though she knows it's only been minutes. She bends over, hands on her knees, sucking in breaths as her heart beats almost frantically in her chest, but she doesn't collapse. Wiping a few strands of hair from her sweaty brow, she looks up at Will and Rob expecting them to tell her how she did. They're both staring at the stopwatch in Will's hand, Will with shock and Rob with renewed amusement that really hasn't ever left throughout this entire ordeal. Did she really do that bad or something?

"Well?" she asks, her breaths finally getting back under control and she stands upright again. "How did I do?"

"You…." Will looks at her, then back down at the stopwatch, almost as if he can't believe what he's seeing and it makes her antsy.

"Well?" she says again.

"You…did well. Really well."

Her face lights up with a grin. "Really? Did I pass?"

"Yeah. Better than average, actually. I-I've heard Phil talk about Steve Rogers. A lot. Apparently, they put Captain Rogers through a bunch of tests after they defrosted him from the ice, to make sure he was okay after being frozen for seventy years. Made him run an obstacle course again, too." He shakes his head in disbelief. "You almost beat _his_ time."

Ari's eyes go wide. She almost beat _Captain America's_ time? "Holy slag."

The amusement Rob has been holding back finally bursts through, coming out in bellows of laughter. He covers his stomach with an arm as his whole body shakes with his laughs and tears come to his eyes.

"And what is so funny?" Will asks, his surprise turning to irritation.

"How is this _not_ funny?" Rob says when he finally gets himself under control enough to speak, wiping at his eyes. "First, Ari says she's going to do this thing and you act like you can actually stop her. I mean, when have you known her to ever be stopped when she sets her mind to something? Seriously, she wasn't really asking for your permission, more like just telling you she's gonna do it. Then you and lover bot over there turn out to be the only ones who _didn't_ see this coming. Come on, man, she's your daughter. I don't care if it ain't by blood. And then you challenge her to run the obstacle course, expecting it to be hard for _her_ , the girl who's been enhanced by the AllSpark, only for her to almost outdo Captain freakin' America."

Rob bursts out laughing again. Jazz soon joins him, followed by everyone else while Will just gives them all the stink eye.

"He does have a point," Ari says in between giggles. She forgot about how the AllSpark changed her, improving her speed and strength. She probably isn't as good as Captain America, but her small size and better maneuverability probably helps make up for it.

"You really think you can train and keep up with school work?" Will asks, trying one last time to dissuade her.

She sighs in exasperation. "Yes, Dad. I'll be fine. Promise."

"Alright," he finally relents. "You'll start training with the next batch of recruits. They're scheduled to arrive next month. It'll give you plenty of time to prepare and for us to make sure you're up to par with everyone else."

Ari lets out an excited squeal and tackles Will in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Will mutters but when she looks up he's smiling softly at her.

Sideswipe kneels down next to them and she steps back from Will so Sides can run a hand gently over her head. "You'll do great," he says. "We'll still worry about you, and we'll protect you as much as we can, but you're going to kick some major aft."

"You're fragging right," Will says. "Oh, that reminds me, the second condition." He places his hands on Ari's shoulders and looks her directly in the eye, very seriously. "You get to tell your mother."

* * *

To Will's utter horror and disappointment, Sarah takes the news miraculously well. She's of the same mind as Rob, really.

"You're a fighter," she says that night when she finds out. "Always have been. I'd follow Will into battle, if I could, in order to keep him out of trouble, but I can't. You, though, trouble follows you everywhere already and you're always more than ready to help beat it back. At least now you'll know how."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, now Ari is going to be officially joining N.E.S.T. I've tried to do some research on the military and the training process, I'm sure I'm going to be doing plenty more, but I'm not going to presume I actually know how any of it works. So, if I end up taking some liberties and getting things wrong, I am sorry. This is fanfic, after all, so please don't fault me for it.
> 
> And about the Captain America reference. I do know that not everyone reading this is an Avengers fan so in case you don't know a lot about Captain America, here's a brief rundown: Steve Rogers lived during World War II. He was born, small, skinny, frail, and sickly, but he always wanted to be in the military. He gets his chance when a scientist meets him and offers to enlist him in a special military program. Long story short, Steve is injected with a super soldier serum that enhances him kind of like Ari is but more and he ends up going into battle against the Nazis eventually. During one battle he is on an enemy plane and the plane is going down. He's forced to crash land near the North Pole. They send out searching parties, but no one finds his body until the 21st century. As it turns out, because of the serum, instead of dying, the cold allowed him to go into a state that cryogenically froze him, preserving his life and keeping him from aging. Sorry I wasn't able to explain it better in the story but I couldn't get it to mesh very well and this is something they all would have known already.
> 
> Next chapter starts some fun stuff. And I get to be mean again, yay! And it's something that probably none of you saw coming either! At least, not that any of you have said.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	46. Putting on the Camo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter basically wrote itself. It's a new plot arc, we're starting N.E.S.T. training, so I needed to introduce some new OCs. I swear, two of them just took off in my head and I was like "Go, go, my lovelies, go and live!" and they did. This chapter was going places and then they took it to totally different places. And because it did that I got to do a fun thing with the ending. Well, fun for me. XD
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari stands at attention at the top of the scaffold in the main hanger, legs and back straight as a rod, her arms firmly at her sides. Below her the newest batch of recruits are gathering in neat little rows awaiting orders wearing the same clothes she is, a black shirt with the N.E.S.T. logo and a pair of black and gray camo cargo pants. The recruits just arrived today so, like always, Ari is assisting Will and Rob with introductions. However, unlike always, once her part is done she will be joining them. This is the group she will be training with, men and women who have a lot more experience at this than she does but she is not a push over. Will and Rob cleared her for training. She passed all of their tests, learned all of the regulations, marches, anything she had to in order to be just as good as anyone coming out of boot camp. She just hopes that she really is ready for this.

Will and Rob climb up the scaffold just as the last of the recruits fall in. They nod to her and she nods back. It's weird, not being able to just be relaxed around them anymore. She has to keep a professional distance. It almost feels unnatural since they're her family but she wanted this. She has to see this through.

"At ease," Will calls out to the recruits and everyone moves to parade rest, feet spread apart, hands held at the small of the back. "Alright, recruits, listen up. We just have a couple more things to go over and then you can finish getting settled in. You are the first batch of recruits who are not solely seasoned soldiers. Some of you were in the service for a few months, but a lot of you came straight from basic training as well. Now that the world knows the Autobots exist, the higher-ups are allowing us to expand our recruitment standards. Within the next year, we hope to set up new bases around the world which will cut down on arrival time for our troops and allow us to better fight the Decepticons. You are going to be some of the first to help fill those new bases.

"For the next several weeks, you will be training to fight against the Decepticons alongside each other and alongside the Autobots. Once your training is complete, a portion of you will then be chosen to go with some of our more experienced N.E.S.T. soldiers to the first new base which will be finished in just three months. Those of you who are not chosen will remain here until the next base in complete. Do not think of this as a competition. It does not matter which base you're assigned to. You'll all see action soon enough.

"Now I want to direct your attention to Ari Lennox." She steps forward next to Will, resisting the urge to fidget and adjust her pony tail. How Coulson learned to wear the blank face at all times, she has no idea. "I know you all have been briefed on Ari's status as the AllSpark and as the Autobot Ambassador. Since she is a regular target for the Decepticons, she has expressed the wish to receive N.E.S.T. training. So, she will be training with your group. Ari has no rank and is not an official member of the military, but you are to treat her as one of your own. Though she didn't go through basic, she still has the same skills as all of you. But right now, as Ambassador, she is going to introduce you to the leader of the Autobots."

All eyes turn to her, she takes a deep breath, and then speaks. Her usual speech had to be modified and shortened. What she usually tells new recruits is a lot of what she said during the press conference, but she still gives a brief history of the Autobots and the events that have played out since their arrival on Earth. This time, though, when the semi-truck turns into Optimus Prime they aren't surprised. But they do still stare in awe.

When Optimus is finished talking to the recruits and introducing them to the rest of the Autobots, Will dismisses everyone to finish settling in. They depart for the barracks, Ari watching them go while she descends the stairs. She feels like it's the first day of school all over again except worse. Normally she's the outcast everyone ignores and she's usually happy to leave it at that. Now, she's the Major's daughter and she's expected to learn to work as a team with these people. Her self-confidence has certainly greatly improved since everything happened, but becoming friends with the Autobots felt so natural. Will this really be any easier than it was before?

But some of the recruits are lingering behind, looking at her curiously, so she approaches them with a smile. "Hello."

A girl a little bit older than Ari steps forward, her blonde hair tied tightly up in a bun and her posture perfect even though they're allowed to be relaxed now. She holds out a hand. "Hello, Ari, it's nice to meet you. My name is Evelyn Tracy, but you can just call me Evie."

Ari shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"So, Lennox. Does that mean you're-?"

"Major Lennox's daughter, yeah."

"What, seriously?" a guy asks who had been standing a little ways behind Evie. He has arms thick with muscle and his head is shaved so smooth it shines. Even though he looks like he would be a tough guy, his smile is easy and reaches his hazel eyes. "You two look nothing alike."

"I'm adopted," Ari clarifies but goes no further, still not comfortable talking about Ron, especially with people she just met.

"Gotcha. I'm John, by the way. John Tracy. Evie and I are twins."

Ari shakes his hand as well with a raised eyebrow, giving him a dubious look. It's hard to tell what color hair John has but even without that they look almost nothing alike. Their facial features are too different to be twins, not to mention the close to a foot difference in height. "And you accuse me of looking nothing like my dad. How are you two twins?"

Evie laughs. "We're fraternal, not identical. Still got the twin thing though. That's why we both enlisted."

John pulls Evie roughly into a side hug, grinning. "Yeah, can't stand to be too far away from my little sis."

Evie rolls her eyes but she's still smiling when she shoves her brother away. "Honestly, you're only eight minutes older than me. You don't have to rub it in."

"Of course I do. That's what brothers are for. Especially twins."

"More like causing trouble," Evie grumbles.

"Oh, really?" Ari asks with a mischievous smile. "You like to cause trouble, John?"

John's grin widens conspiratorially, recognizing a kindred spirit. "Oh, all sorts of trouble. This one time, our Aunt Nancy was watching me and Evie. We were, what, eleven? Twelve? And she had fallen asleep watching T.V., just like she always does. Anyway, Aunt Nancy is pretty old, oldest of eight kids on our dad's side, and her hair's always been pretty thin, so by the age of fifty she was wearing wigs because she just looks like a drowned rat normally."

Evie elbows him hard. "John! That's not nice. Aunt Nancy is a sweetheart."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He waves his hand dismissively. "Anyway, so she was knocked out on the couch, right? So I snuck up behind her, took her wig, dyed it hot pink, and put it back on her head. When she woke up when our parents got home it took a full ten minutes before she even noticed. It was hysterical!"

"Oh, yeah, real hysterical," Evie deadpans, "until our parents asked us what happened. I had to take the fall for you just to keep dad from skinning your hide."

"She's always been a daddy's girl," John explains. "Stickler for the rules, too. Which is why when _I_ ever blame her for something no one ever believes me."

"That's because I never do anything, even most of the stuff I take credit for. I'm not even sure they always believed me when I said I did something but they usually just took my word for it anyway."

"Yeah, and then the punishment was never that bad," John says petulantly, "not like what they do when they catch me."

Evie sighs in exasperation. "Which is why I cover for you for the worst ones, you doofus."

John instantly brightens again in a grin. "Love you too, sis."

"Well, if you're into mischief," Ari says, amusement shining in her eyes, "I know a couple of bots you might like to meet. They're twins, too."

"Cybertronians like…pranks?" Evie asks.

"Yeah, of course. Cybertronians really aren't that much different than us, just bigger and made out of metal."

"And can turn into some pretty sweet cars," John adds.

Ari chuckles. "Yeah, that too." She then waves over Sideswipe and Sunstreaker who have been waiting for her on the sidelines. They skate over and kneel down next to them. "John, Evie, this is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Guys, this is John and Evie."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Sideswipe says politely.

Sunstreaker, on the other hand, jumps right in and says, "Did I hear something about a prank?"

John and Evie laugh. "Wow," Evie says. "You weren't kidding. You guys do pranks here often?"

"As often as we can," Sideswipe says. "It's nice to let out a little steam between missions."

"Plus, Ironhide and Ratchet are fragging fun to mess with," Sunny adds.

Evie's brow furrows in confusion. "'Fragging'?"

"It's Cybertronian slang," Ari explains. "You'll pick it up eventually. Usually by the end of training all the recruits are using it."

John rubs his hands together excitedly. "So about those pranks…."

"How about we move into the rec room?" Ari offers before they can get into too much trouble. Don't need to be having conversations like this with Ironhide just meters away. "I usually take Sides, Sunny, and the triplets in there with me every time we get new recruits to help break the ice."

"Sure, sounds good."

Sideswipe lifts Ari up onto her usual place on his shoulder without even being asked. He then holds out his hands to John and Evie. "Want a ride?" he asks.

The human twins look at the alien hands cautiously.

"It's alright," Ari sooths. "It's perfectly safe. I travel like this all the time. Just sit down on his palm."

They share a brief look and then each sit down on one of Sideswipe's hands. When Sideswipe straightens they both quickly grab onto a servo to keep from getting jostled.

"This isn't so bad," John says, smiling slightly.

Ari looks back at the triplets. "You girls ready to roll out?" When the three femmes give her the affirmative Ari grins down at the humans in Sideswipe's hands. "Hold on tight!"

Sideswipe takes off, Sunstreaker and the femmes following behind. John and Evie scramble for a tighter hold, eyes wide as they speed to the rec room. Ari just laughs in exhilaration, expertly perched on Sideswipe's shoulder without even needing to hold on. When they skid to a halt in the rec room John and Evie still have death grips on Sideswipe's fingers, Evie's hair tousled from the wind and starting to come out of its bun. Sideswipe moves to the bench in front of the large T.V., right now showing a soccer game, and sets the three humans down on the scaffold surrounding it. John and Evie are a little shaky on their feet.

"Oh, come on, guys," Ari chuckles. "Sideswipe wasn't even going that fast."

John looks at her incredulously. " _That_ wasn't that fast?"

"Course not. Sides is faster than most sports cars in the world and he's gone a lot faster carrying me before. Especially if Ironhide is chasing us after a prank."

Evie shakes her head but there's a smile spreading across her face as she smooths her hair back. "You guys are insane."

Sunstreaker grins. "Welcome to the crazy."

It's late afternoon so the rec room isn't too filled. Three soldiers who aren't on duty right now are sprawled out on two of the couches on the scaffold, a couple more on the couches of the scaffold around the bench the triplets go to sit on that sits perpendicular to the T.V. Recruits are starting to trickle in though and Ari's sure most of them are going to find their way here eventually, just like they always do. Sides and Sunny sit on the bench below them while Ari motions John and Evie to take one of the couches. She sits in her usual recliner for when she's not curled up with Sideswipe. She likes to keep her distance at first, allow some of the new recruits to approach the Autobots. If they look too skittish she'll go to sit on Sideswipe's shoulder or in his lap, just to show that they're harmless. Any soldiers hanging around try to help, too, by talking to the Autobots as if they're no different. And, really, they aren't any different. They just have to get the recruits used to that idea. Already, she sees some of the recruits eying the five Autobots she brought with her curiously. For now, she just focuses on the T.V. and waits patiently for the first brave soul.

"So," one of the soldiers says from the couch next to her, a Chinese man by the name of Lando Chan with black hair that always manages to look disheveled. He's about Will's age and has been in N.E.S.T. since shortly after the Battle of Mission City. They've never really talked much but he's one of the ones who's usually always around and willing to help her break in the new recruits with the Autobots, which is probably why he's in the rec room now. "It's true. You really did sign up for N.E.S.T."

"Not exactly," Ari corrects. "I signed up for training. I won't actually be joining N.E.S.T."

"What, you don't want to join the rest of us on the front lines?"

"Oh, I usually end up there whether I want to or not. It's just usually a different kind of front lines. But seriously, I just want to learn to fight better so that I can keep myself and others safe when I can. And, you know, maybe not end up kidnapped again."

"You've been kidnapped?" Evie asks, alarmed.

Ari grimaces. "Yeah. Decepticons attacked the base and took me a little bit before everything in Egypt went down. It wasn't fun."

"What about the other two times?" Lando asks.

Ari's brow furrows. "Okay, yeah, the thing that happened when they attacked my collage and Lina and I were plucked off the ground while driving away, I guess that counts, but what's the other time?"

"In Egypt. The Fallen grabbed you and took you to the Sun Harvester."

She snorts. "That hardly counts. It only lasted, like, five minutes. He literally threw me away when he was done with me. I didn't even need to be rescued."

"You were still taken so it still counts."

"Whatever," Ari says, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I'm getting training so I can protect myself and anyone else when I can. I'm not going to be going on missions."

"It's not like Will would let her go on missions anyway," Sideswipe adds over his shoulder. "He'd burn anyone alive with one of his death glares if they so much as mentioned it."

"You mean Major Lennox?" a recruit asks who's just climbing up the stairs of the scaffold, a tall woman with dark brown hair that almost looks black. It looks like her entire body is muscle with almost no fat, detracting from any natural curve her body might have. She's built like a machine and her dark eyes look over Ari dismissively. "Why would Major Lennox care whether or not she goes on missions?"

Two other people come up the scaffold with her, an even taller woman, Amazonian tall, with long, bleach blonde hair, and a short, stocky man whose black hair is buzzed close to his head. John and Evie exchange sour looks when the three come to stand closer, waiting for an answer. "You mean beside the fact she's the AllSpark and the Autobot Ambassador?" Evie says bluntly. "She's already a target, Ferrel, she'd be too much at risk if she went out on missions."

The girl named Ferrel gives an exaggerated eye roll. "Yeah, I get that. I can understand the aliens being all uppity about it but why would the Major?"

John rubs between his eyes tiredly. "Both of their last names are Lennox, Ferrel. It's not that hard to figure out. She's his daughter."

"Oh, well, that's just great," she says resentfully, sending Ari a glare. "So you're here to get training but really all of our instructors are probably going to go easy on you."

Ari bristles, feeling rather insulted, and not liking how this women calls the Autobots aliens like that. She makes them sound like they're inferior or something. Ari sees Sideswipe and Sunstreaker tense out of the corner of her eye but she remains calm. "No one will be going easy on me. I'm here to work hard, just like the rest of you. Everyone here knows I'm not made of glass."

Ferrel snorts. "Whatever, princess. Just stay out of my way. I plan on coming out on top and I don't need some suck-up messing things up." She turns to go back down the scaffold, the other two following behind her. "Let's go back to the barracks." All three of them shoot Ari one last glare before leaving the rec room.

"So who was that little glitch?" Sunny asks, almost in a growl.

"That was Melissa Ferrel," Evie says, nose crinkled in disgust, "and her two little cheerleaders, Brittany Newton and Matt Hunter."

"We went through basic with them," John continues. "Ferrel is all better-than-thou. Always has to be better than everyone at everything and likes to shove her supposed superiority in everyone's faces. Newton and Hunter believe it whole-heartedly and follow her around like lost puppies."

Ari sighs tiredly, leaning back in her seat. "Primus, when did the military become like a high school chick flick? Even if she does have the highest scores in everything, it's not like she's going to get anything out of it."

"She doesn't need to," Evie says, shaking her head. "She just has an obsession with being number one."

"She better watch it," Sideswipe says darkly.

Ari frowns, getting up from her recliner to settle on Sideswipe's shoulder. "Hey," she says softly, stroking the top of his head. He looks up at her, optics dark with anger. "It'll be okay. This isn't the first time I've dealt with bullies, remember? And it sounds like Ferrel will be a cakewalk. All I have to do is stay out of her way, just as she says. If I do nothing to antagonize her, she'll leave me alone, and she shouldn't have any other reasons to mess with me."

"And if she does mess with you, we can sneak scorpions into her bunk," Sunny says with an evil smile.

Ari laughs, Sunstreaker's threat reminding her of an over-protective big brother. "Love you too, Sunny."

He rolls his optics at her. "Shut up, Squishy."

Optimus, Ironhide, and Ratchet suddenly burst into the room, Will and Rob on Ironhide's shoulders, all of them looking worried.

"What's wrong?" Ari asks, dread turning her stomach sour.

Ironhide puts Will and Rob down on the scaffold. "You better have a look at this," Will says, taking the T.V. remote from the side table next to Lando and changing the channel to the news.

The news channel is covering a protest that is happening in Mission City, according to the news band at the bottom of the screen. There is a huge crowd of protesters marching down the street, at least a thousand. All of them angry, all of them shouting, and all of them wearing the same white t-shirt with what has quickly become known as the Anti-Alien insignia, the Autobot symbol crossed out in red. Ari slides down Sideswipe's front and he gathers her in his arms, holding her close, as they watch in horror. Many of the people are holding up signs high in the air, "Aliens, Go Home", "Aliens = Death", "Deport the Aliens", and many, many more. At the very front of the group is Allen Maxwell, leading them all with a proud, self-satisfied smirk.

"H-How did this happen?" Ari asks, voice quiet, weak. "How did it get this bad? Phil said things should be calming down soon because Maxwell doesn't have the resources to keep it going. How is he doing all this? Where did he even get the money for all those shirts?"

"I asked Phil the same thing when he called and told me what was going on," Will says, face grim. "He said Maxwell has some sort of anonymous benefactor for his little organization, feeding him money to help fuel the flames."

"If this keeps up," Rob says, "things could really get out of hand."

"Why are they doing this?" Evie asks softly. "Why do they hate the Autobots so much?"

"They blame us for what the Decepticons have done," Moonracer says. "They see us all as a threat and believe that if we leave, the danger will go with us."

"But it won't, will it?" John asks. "Would the Decepticons really follow you if you left Earth?"

"Most likely, no, they will not," Optimus says, optics downcast as he stares at the screen.

Ari bites her lip. "You're not going to do it, are you, Optimus?" He always said he would do whatever humans asked of him to the best of his ability, even if they ask him and his people to leave.

"No, Ari, we will not," Optimus affirms. "At least, not yet. This is the view of but a few and I do not trust this benefactor. Whoever he is, he could be manipulating Maxwell and the others."

"Besides," Ratchet says, "we could not leave you. You would be unable to go with us since you cannot survive in space and if we were to leave, it would leave you open to attack to the Decepticons."

Sideswipe holds her tighter, a hand stroking through her hair. "We're not leaving you, sweetspark," he whispers to her. " _I'm_ not leaving you. Promise."

Ari nods, hoping he's right. She's not sure what she would do if they were ever forced to leave. They're her family. She loves them, all of them.

And she won't let anyone take them from her.

"What's being done to find out who the benefactor is?" she asks. "Is there anything we can do?"

Will grimaces. "At the moment, no. S.H.I.E.L.D. is handling it but Phil assures me he's got his best people working on it."

Ari sighs, leaning her head against Sideswipe's chassis and closing her eyes. "Then I guess all we can do is wait."

For now, she'll focus on what she _can_ do. She'll put up with Ferrel. She's train. She'll learn all that she can so that she can protect herself and the people she cares about. And then, when Maxwell and whoever this new player is are brought down, she'll take up her mantle as Autobot Ambassador and put everything right that they tore down. And give them both a good kick in the aft. Whatever problems come along the way, she'll deal with them. They'll all deal with them. Together.

"Short stuff?" a familiar voice suddenly calls out and her eyes fly open in disbelief. Standing in the doorway of the rec room is one of the new recruits, but he's also someone she knows.

Ari can feel her face pale and her heart beat faster. "Trent DeMarco."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ending, guys. You have no idea how happy it made me that I got to do that cliffie. *happy sigh* As for the actual event, Trent showing up again, I've been planning that, no joke, since chapter 20. If you recall, in chapter 27, the chapter where Ari graduates from high school, I said that Trent was going into the army. I was trying to hint that his road would lead him here, having him go into the military. So, how surprised are you?
> 
> Other than that, what did you think about my OCs, especially John and Evie? I swear, the two of them kind of ran away with me. I don't even know where that prank with their aunt came from, it just happened.
> 
> Next, we'll be seeing the aftermath of Trent's arrival, what that's going to mean for Ari, and training officially begins!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	47. Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I forgot to update yesterday. I'll give you two today to make up for it.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

_How? Why?_

Those two questions chase each other through a loop in Ari's head. How could Trent DeMarco end up here, at N.E.S.T.? But of course, she realizes, she had heard Trent was going into the Army after graduation. Well, it looks like he did and then transferred when N.E.S.T. came out in the open. The possibility of him ending up here never even crossed her mind.

Trent's flirty little smile spreads across his face, the one he thinks is so charming but she just finds revolting. "Hey there, Short Stuff," he says, sauntering over. "Long time, no see. I thought that Autobot chick was you. I couldn't get a good look earlier, but it really is you." His eyes scan her body up and down in a way that makes her skin crawl. "Did you miss me?"

Her shock fades as her hands clench. Same old Trent. But she's learned how to deal with him by now. "Set me down, Sides," she says quietly.

His arms tighten around her, a low growl rumbling in his chassis. "But-"

"Come on, Sides. I've stood up to him before. This is no different than high school."

She knows Sideswipe has always hated Trent, has even been jealous of him in the past because of the way he flirts with her, but, as has been established before, Ari is a big girl now. She can handle Trent and all of this antics, including his strange attraction to her that, for some reason, is coupled with a sometimes cruel equivalent of pulling pigtails. There is a certain level of satisfaction to making Trent baffled when she stands up for herself now.

After a tense moment Sideswipe finally sets her down on the ground. She faces Trent, hands on her hips and lifting herself to her full height. She still doesn't even meet his shoulder but she doesn't let that intimidate her. "No, Trent," she says, voice hard, "I haven't missed you. At all. I've _enjoyed_ not having you antagonizing me every day."

"Aw, come on, Short Stuff." He steps closer to her, into her personal space. "Don't be like that."

Sideswipe quickly stands, looming over them. "Back up," he growls. " _Now_." Sunstreaker stands as well, though a little behind, ready to back his brother up if he needs it.

"Whoa, buddy," Trent says, raising his hands placatingly but his smile doesn't fall, like he doesn't believe himself to actually be in any danger. Autobots have vowed never to harm humans, and maybe he would be right. If it was anyone other than Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "Everything's cool here. Ari and I are old friends from high school."

"I know who you are. We've met before." Sideswipe transforms into his alt mode faster than Ari's ever seen before and then his holoform blinks on right in front of her, standing between her and Trent, shoulders tense with barely-contained fury. "Remember me now?"

Trent balks, taking a step back. "Y-You!"

"That's right. And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave Ari alone, or else I'll make good on my promise to hang you somewhere more precarious than a flag pole."

A brief glimpse of fear flickers across Trent's face. Before Sideswipe can go any further she gets between the two of them, a hand pressing firmly against Sideswipe's chest.

"No, Sideswipe," she tells him, looking hard into his eyes but he's not looking at her, he's glaring at Trent. "Sideswipe." She pushes against his chest harder. He doesn't budge but he does look at her. "It's alright. I got this."

The muscles in his jaw ripple as he clenches his teeth. He wants to argue with her so she arches a brow at him, silently asking if he really wants to go there because even though he is her Guardian and they are a couple, they both know she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, especially when it comes to Trent. She does not need his help. In fact, she does not _want_ his help. She wants to do this herself. He must see that intent in her expression because he stiffly nods once and backs up a step, though still staying close in holoform. She quirks a little smile at him in thanks and then turns back to Trent, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Trent is openly gaping at them, his eyes moving from her to Sideswipe's holoform to Sideswipe's alt mode, no doubt recognizing the car as "hers", his eyes getting impossibly bigger with each circuit. After a minute he sputters out, "Your boyfriend is a freakin' _alien_?!"

"Technically, Sideswipe and I weren't together back in high school," Ari answers casually. "Back then, he was just my Guardian and friend. But now, yes, we are a couple. We got together after Egypt, to the ever-loving delight of, well, pretty much everybody."

Trent's arms flail wildly as he talks, "How could you want to be with that…that thi-"

Something inside Ari snaps. Her face goes cold and dark and she stalks right up to Trent, pressing into his personal space this time, getting up in his face. "Finish that sentence," she growls. "I fragging dare you."

She itches to activate one of the bracelet knives she wears to show him just how serious she's being. No one insults her Sideswipe, or any of the Autobots for that matter, especially someone who's signed up to fight alongside them. But it's not just that. His face screw up into a look of horror and disgust and she knows he finds her relationship with Sideswipe, her attraction to him, as unnatural. Wrong. It hurts a little bit, even though she knows Trent's opinion of her doesn't, shouldn't, matter in the slightest. But it still hurts. Everyone has always been so approving of her and Sideswipe. The Autobots, because what her and Sideswipe have, their connection, there would be no doubt they were Sparkmates if she were Cybertronian. The N.E.S.T. soldiers, her parents, Rob, they've seen her and Sideswipe together, have watched them fall in love, and they recognize it as a love that is pure and true. Species doesn't matter to them.

Trent's obvious rejection, though, it scares her, in a way. She knows Galloway would probably react the same way, Anti-Alien also, and even though those aren't the best examples, she can't help but wonder if the rest of the world would be like this, too, if they found out. Would the rest of the world be disgusted? Or would they understand? It makes her feel like she should be ashamed for loving Sideswipe the way she does, but she's not. How can she be ashamed? It would be like denying a piece of herself.

So she will defend herself, him, _them_. However she has to.

Will comes up to stand beside her, face stoic and in full commanding officer mode, but he does place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "DeMarco," he says, evenly but she can hear the strain in his voice, "I suggest you go back to the barracks and leave my daughter alone."

Trent's eyes widen impossibly wider with that revelation, but he does as he's told. He gives them all one last disbelieving look and stomps hurriedly out of the rec room.

As soon as he's out the door Ari takes in a deep breath, not realizing she had been holding it. "Well, that went well."

"Who was that?" Will demands, switching to overprotective father seamlessly.

"Trent DeMarco," she says dejectedly. "We went to high school together. He was the one who always bullied me." Anger flashes in Will's eyes. She's never told him and Sarah the full story behind the bully, just the fact that she _was_ bullied sometimes but was dealing with it. He knows enough though. He's two seconds away from going after Trent but she places a hand on his arm. "Don't, Dad."

"Do you want me to kick him out of N.E.S.T.?" He leans his head down to look her directly in the eye, completely serious. "Because I will. You don't have to put up with him."

The offer is tempting. Trent is probably going to be even more unbearable now. Not only has she rejected him, yet again, but she has chosen Sideswipe, an alien, over him. But the thought of Ferrel stops her. Ferrel believes Ari will use her status as the Major's daughter in order to get an easier ride than everyone else. That she will use it and abuse it.

Ari doesn't want to prove her right.

"No," Ari decides. "No, don't do that. He made it into N.E.S.T. so he must be a good soldier. It wouldn't be right for me to have him kicked out just because we don't get along." His attitude towards the Autobots isn't the greatest, but it's not like that hasn't happened before with new recruits. After a bit of time, usually by the first few missions, they tend to change their minds. Hopefully that'll happen with Trent as well.

"Are you sure you can handle training with him?" Will asks.

"Yeah. I mean, we used to go to school together, so this shouldn't be any harder than that and it's only for a couple of weeks. Then I can go back to being on the sidelines most of the time." She shrugs her shoulders, unworried. "This base is bigger than my high school. After training, we probably won't even see much of each other. And if I'm really lucky, he'll be picked to go to one of the new bases."

"Alright, kiddo." He pulls her into a side hug and kisses the top of her head. "If you're sure. But if you ever change your mind, just let me know."

She looks over her shoulder at Sideswipe, can see the bands of muscles in his arms straining against his rage, almost unable to contain it all in a human body. She grabs his hand, balled in a fist, and pulls him over towards his alt mode. He follows her, but he does not look at her. She can imagine the storm clouds in his eyes though.

She pauses for a second, looking up at John and Evie. "I'll see you guys tomorrow I guess?" she asks, worriedly, hopefully, unsure how they're taking this or how well she did at making a first impression. The twin smiles she receives eases her though.

"Of course," they say at the same time, bringing out a small smile in her. It fortifies her, stays her fears and anxieties.

"Come on, Sides," she says softly to him, tugging him along behind her. "Let's go outside for a bit."

They both get into his alt mode, Sideswipe surprisingly deciding to stay in holoform for now, and together they speed out of the building, leaving an angry roar echoing in their wake. Outside, it isn't quite dark yet, the sun still making its way down below the horizon, too early for stargazing, but the breath of fresh air is needed and the sky blanketed with oranges, pinks, and purples gorgeous. They come to a stop at their usual spot and she waits for whatever it is Sideswipe needs. He gets out to perch on the hood of his alt mode and she follows, sitting next to him but leaving space between them, willing to let him take his time, to let him make the first move. For the moment they just watch the sunset.

When the last speck of orange disappears, plunging them into deep blues and almost-blacks, the tension finally eases out of him, carried away on the wind with his deep sigh. Still she waits as the stars blink on above them and the outside lights of the base blink on behind them, almost but not quite reaching them. Slowly his fists uncurl and he lays his hands out flat on his thighs.

Feeling the worst is past, she reaches for one of his hands, weaves their fingers together, and asks, "You okay?"

He snorts humorlessly. "Am _I_ okay? Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"At the moment, I think I'm handling Trent's sudden arrival a lot better than you are." She slides closer to him, setting her chin on his shoulder and looking at him. He still refuses to look at her. "Talk to me, Sides."

He lets out a shuddering breath. "I don't like him."

"You've never liked him."

"Yeah, but before, you and I weren't…together and I thought we never would be. You had a right to be with whoever you wanted, even if it ended up being that aftpipe. It wasn't my place to really interfere, so I let you deal with it on your own, like you asked. But now…."

"Now we're together," she says, stroking her thumb rhythmically along his, "and the jealously is worse." He finally looks at her, his blue eyes tortured in the dim light. "I get it, Sides. I'd feel the same way if some femme were trying to steal you from me. But I'm not going to leave you. You know that, right?"

He swallows thickly. "I know that, in my processor. But my spark doesn't want him anywhere near you. I don't need to be a med bot to smell his pheromones, Ari. I know he wants you, that he'll probably try to take you from me, and that…that…i-it eats me up inside. I want to claim you as mine so he can't, claim you as my Sparkmate, but I can't. And since I can't, there will always be that chance."

"Oh, Sideswipe," she sighs sadly, unsure how to tell him how everything is going to be okay, that she would never leave him, that she loves him, but the words do not feel like enough. So instead she cups his face in her hands and kisses him, slow and tender. "I am _yours_." Another kiss. "Just as you are _mine_." Another. "No one will ever take that from us. I won't let them."

He takes her wrists gently, hands shaking. "Mine," he whispers, leaning forward to kiss her. "Mine," softly, the words ghosting across her lips with his breath, before he kisses her again, a little firmer this time. " _Mine._ "

The floodgates seem to open up then. Sideswipe surges forward, kissing her harder, more urgently than he ever has before. His arms go around her waist, pulling her closer until there's no space left between them, and her hands delve into his hair, trying to hang on. She feels hot with need and want and love and _mine_ that it feels like her skin is on fire. She wants to feel possessed by him in all the ways his people know how but knows she can't. So she tries to find a way to make up for it, to fill that void. Her father's possession over her used to scare her but this, _this_ , is possession in its purest form. To give oneself to someone completely, willingly.

Sideswipe bites down on her bottom lip, just a nibble, but it's enough to make her softly gasp. Then his tongue plunges into her mouth, stroking it, claiming it.

But it is not Sideswipe's tongue she feels.

Images flash in her head, of Ron pinning her down, lying on top of her, sticking _his_ tongue in her mouth, and her entire body recoils with a strangled cry. She pushes back from Sideswipe, hands clutching his shirt at the shoulders. Her eyes screw shut tight as her mind replays the memory in her head, a flashback that feels so real it's like it's actually happening again, like she can really feel Ron touching her, feel the wrongness spread across her skin. Her breathing is shallow, blood rushing in her ears, but she hears Sideswipe's voice calling her name over and over. It's been a while since she's had a flashback, most of her triggers have been broken down as she learned to touch again, but she remembers the routine. She focuses on Sideswipe. On his voice, calm but edged with worry. On his t-shirt in her hands and the shoulders underneath. He's more muscled, leaner.

Not Ron, she reminds herself, not Ron.

His alt mode is beneath her and she can feel his spark humming slightly. He's ready to transform if she needs it but she doesn't think she does. Reality trickles back in, the ghost fading away. She opens her eyes, lifts her head. Sideswipe's brow is creased with worry so she gives him a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry," she mumbles.

"Not your fault," he says, taking her hands in his. The touch reminds her that she's still hanging on to his shirt, fingers curled like talons, and she makes herself let go. "Definitely, not your fault, sweetspark. I…I shouldn't have done that. Shouldn't have let myself get carried away."

"No, I," she bites her lip, remembering how it felt when he did it, "I wanted it just as much as you did. It's just been so long, I thought I was better now. I don't even remember the last time I had a nightmare." She lifts a hand to cup the side of his face, running her thumb along his bottom lip. "I still want, Sides. I want this and I don't want him to keep this from me."

He turns his head to kiss her palm. "What do you need?"

She needs to not feel trapped. That's always been a really big trigger for her, is why she'll probably never be completely comfortable with crowds because it feels suffocating. So Sideswipe crowding over her, that needs to change. Thinking through her movements carefully as she goes, she raises herself onto her knees on the hood and lifts a leg to straddle his lap. She's hovering over him now, her fingers playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck, and his hands automatically go to her waist to steady her.

She wants to feel claimed, she knows that, wants to feel his tongue tangle with hers, but they need to do it in a way that doesn't remind her of the way Ron just _took_. So she leans down to kiss Sideswipe tenderly for a few minutes, just like they always do. Then her tongue flicks out to stroke his bottom lip and he opens for her willingly. Her tongue sweeps inside, exploring his mouth, battling against his tongue, until slowly, slowly, she draws his tongue into her mouth again. There's a flash of memory, almost like a stabbing pain, but she tries to hang on, pressing herself closer to him, tugging harder on his hair, until finally something gives way and there's just her, Sideswipe, and the kiss.

The ghost fades once more. She doesn't know if she'll ever see it again, if there aren't even more triggers they don't know about, but right now she doesn't care. Right now, there's just Sideswipe.

She doesn't know how much time passes before the kiss ends, just that she's dizzy when it does. She grins, rubbing her nose against his. "Mine."

He grins back, holding her closer. "Mine."

That one word seems to say it all.

* * *

Sideswipe nudges Ari awake before the sun even thinks about showing itself the next day. She groans tiredly but rouses. It's been a while since she's had to get up this early, but the more she moves, the more awake she feels. She has to get to the main hanger by 0600 for roll call, just enough time for a quick shower.

Sideswipe places her on the side table next to his bed that was placed in his and Sunny's room for her. Atop it is a dresser containing her clothes, a desk and chair, and a bed that she has never actually used and doesn't really see herself using anytime in the future. Curling up on Sideswipe's chassis is what she prefers, but when he's on patrol when she goes to bed she just steal his pillow until he gets back. It's big enough to be a bed by itself.

After Ari grabs her bag of toiletries and clothes, a black shirt and camo cargo pants again, Sideswipe helps her to the floor so she can take a shower in the bathroom they had built into one corner of the room. It's a fairly nice-sized bathroom, with a toilet, sink built into a long countertop with a mirror spanning the length, and a roomy shower. She rushes through her morning routine, pulling her wet hair back into a braid, and when she exits the bathroom both twins are waiting for her.

Since they'll be here for the next several weeks and Ari has to wake up so early for training anyway, Sideswipe volunteered himself for the early morning patrol shift. Sunstreaker groused about it, even though Sideswipe made it perfectly clear that he doesn't have to join him, but he signed up for the morning shift as well. He looks to be second-guessing that decision now, Sunny has never been much of a morning person, but he dutifully follows his brother as the three of them head to the main hanger.

Recruits have already started to gather, forming ranks in rows ordered by name. Sideswipe deposits her on the ground to go join them after a parting kiss, then he and Sunstreaker go off to check in with Optimus before their patrol. The intimate gesture causes a ripple of whispers around her as she takes her place towards the middle of the group. Her and Sideswipe aren't shy about public displays of affection. In fact, they like to do it just to show that they aren't scared or ashamed. They love each other. They accept each other. Despite their many, many differences. Being open about it helps bite any ridicule in the bud. It actually doesn't happen often. By the time recruits join the fold of soldiers, they're mostly comfortable in the fact that Ari and Sideswipe are in a relationship.

But by the bewildered and appalled looks on Trent's and Ferrel's faces, there will be plenty of ridicule with this batch of recruits.

At 0600 exactly the last of the recruits gather to stand at attention and a N.E.S.T. soldier comes to stand at the front of the group. He's an older man in black and gray fatigues and a hat covering his bald head. His face has deep-seated wrinkles that make his frown stand out more, like it's the only facial expression he knows.

"At ease," he calls out, his deep voice carrying over them with little effort as they comply as one. "My name is Sergeant Victor Welles. You may refer to me as Sergeant Welles or Sergeant or sir, is that clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" they say in unison.

"Good." He nods approvingly but his face doesn't change. "For the next eight weeks I will be your instructor, along with the Autobot Ironhide. We will train you in combat and weapons for the first four weeks. The second half of your training will then be in teamwork. You will learn several team tactics on how to take out a Decepticon, but you must remember that you are a _team_ and only as a team will you succeed. You will also learn how to fight with the Autobots, from playing off of each other's strengths to learning not to get squashed under their feet in the middle of a firefight."

There's a chuckle or two at that. Sergeant Welles's eyes flash reproachfully, singling out the ones who laughed with the accuracy of a vulture finding roadkill high from the sky. They instantly stop.

"Now," he continues, "we will begin your combat training by having one-on-one sparing sessions to assess each of your skill levels. So fall in and follow me."

They follow Welles out of the hanger one row at a time so that they now form two lines in single-file, reminding Ari a little of elementary school except with a lot more discipline. Welles leads them to the training room where they split off into the locker rooms in order to get changed in workout clothes. They've each been assigned lockers in a group towards the back except for Ari. Her things are still in the locker she first picked out. She breaks off from the others to go to her locker at the front of the room, quickly changing into the close-fitted t-shirt and capris. When she closes her locker and turns around Ferrel and her two lackeys stand blocking her path.

Ferrel looks Ari up and down, arms crossed, a lot like she did the day before, like Ari is the small fish about to be eaten by the shark. "You're a scraggly little thing, aren't you," Ferrel says. "Do you even have any muscle?"

Ari crosses her own arms, skimming one of her scars with a finger. "If you think I'm skinny now, you should have seen me a couple of years ago. I've filled out a lot since then."

"Yeah, that's probably all fat." Ferrel laughs, Newton and Hunter joining her as the three of them exit the locker room.

Ari glares after the three of them. The words don't hurt her. She has no low self-esteem when it comes to her figure; she definitely knows she isn't fat. The things that bother her the most about how she looks are her scars and even those don't bother her as much anymore. Though she isn't totally devoid of fat, that's a good thing, healthy even, especially compared to how she was before Sarah got a hold of her with some good home cooking.

She certainly wouldn't want to look like Ferrel. Ferrel just looks like she's on steroids.

Compared to Trent, Ferrel's unwanted attention is easy to deal with, so she just shrugs it off and goes to join the other recruits in the training room. Welles has everyone gathered around one of the mats on the human side of the room. Ironhide's alt mode is in a corner of the room but his holoform is nowhere to be seen. Ari goes to stand beside Evie and John, greeting them both with a smile.

"Hey, where were you this morning?" Evie asks. "We looked for you at the barracks but couldn't find you."

"Oh," Ari says, blushing slightly. "You didn't have to do that. I don't sleep in the barracks."

"Why not?" John asks.

"I used to have a room in the other building where the higher ups and guests stay, but I don't sleep over there anymore. I stay with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker."

"You mean with your boyfriend?" Ferrel sneers from across the mat, an obvious dig to confirm what all the recruits must be curious about considering the past twenty-four hours.

"Yes," Ari says, wanting to just get it all out in the open so they can stop talking about it like a bunch of old gossips already. "Sideswipe is my boyfriend. That is common knowledge around here."

"Why do you stay with them?" John asks, cutting off whatever mean remark Ferrel was about to say.

"Last time I stayed in that room I woke up to a Decepticon trying to cut me open." She shudders at the memory of Scalpel standing on her chest about to dissect her. She still has nightmares of that sometimes. "Since then, I don't stay anywhere alone."

"Wait, so the Decepticons know where the base is?" Hunter asks in alarm. "I thought it was supposed to be a secret."

Ironhide's holoform suddenly appears in the center of the mat, causing some of the recruits to jump. They were introduced to holoforms during introductions yesterday but are obviously not used to a person just appearing out of thin air. Yet. The smaller twins like to do it to scare people sometimes, so they'll get used to it soon enough. "Yes, the Decepticons know where we are," Ironhide says. "That's one of the reasons why we're building new bases and training all of you to fill them up, which I would like to get back to."

Everyone stands straighter as Welles joins Ironhide in the center of the mat. "As I said before, you will each spar in one-on-one rounds," Welles says. "Each round will last five minutes or until one of you taps out. We'll be going in alphabetical order. Ironhide and I will use our observations to determine where you need improvement and the real training begins tomorrow." He looks down at the clipboard he holds with the list of their names. "Amole and Anderson."

Their group has thirty recruits so there are fifteen matches to get through. Most of them end before the five minutes are up, with one of the people getting pinned and no longer able to fight back. Some of them do end in a draw though. All throughout, Welles is scrawling notes on his clipboard and Ironhide simply watches attentively.

The lay of the names put Trent and Ferrel against each other in one of the matches. As the match begins, it's easy to see that the both of them rely on strength more than agility. Each of their moves have solid impacts, enough to where they're both sure to have bruises within the next few hours, but their moves aren't all that fast. In the end, it all comes down to who is stronger. Both of them are confident in their abilities, but Trent gets Ferrel into a choke hold that she does not have the ability or flexibility to get out of, forcing her to tap out. Ferrel shoves Trent off angrily when he lets go while he flashes the crowd a cocky smile.

A couple of matches later, Welles calls out, "Landers and Lisbon."

Ari's brow furrows in confusion. She should be going up against Landers. Before she can think too much on it she calls out, "Sir?"

Welles narrows his eyes at her, annoyed with the interruption. "Yes, Lennox?"

"Shouldn't I be going up against Landers?"

"You're to observe for now, Lennox. You've never been to boot camp and you've never sparred with anyone other than your trainer. Real fighting is different than training. If you feel up to it then maybe I'll give you someone to fight at the end of the session."

He motions for Landers and Lisbon to take the mat, dismissing her, but she doesn't let it go. Sure, Ari hasn't fought anyone outside of Ironhide and Chromia, but that shouldn't matter. The two bots are probably a lot harder fight than anyone here anyway.

"I'm ready to fight now," she insists, taking on a bit of the tone she uses when acting as ambassador, when she needs someone to listen to her and take her seriously.

Welles scowls at her. There's a good chance she'll get reprimanded for this but she can't just leave it. She's supposed to be treated as an equal here, not a child.

"Sergeant Welles," Ironhide intervenes before Welles can snap at her, "Ari is right. The agreement was to treat her no differently than any of the other recruits."

"I'm sure Major Lennox-"

"Would agree," Ironhide presses. "I could contact him if you like but I know what he will say. He's already agreed to let her train, so let her."

Welles grips his clipboard tightly, looking close to rolling his eyes, but he gives a curt nod. "Very well. Landers, Lennox, take the mat."

Excitement and anticipation flow through Ari's veins as her bare feet step onto the mat, Landers stepping out in front of her as well. Landers is a woman roughly the same height as her but a bit chunkier. They both take a fighting stance. When Welles blows the whistle to signal the start of the match Ari doesn't move. She watches and waits. It isn't long before Landers makes the first move, launching forward with a series of quick jabs. Ari stays quick on the balls of her feet, ducking and dodging every move. Realizing it's not going to be that easy, Landers punches harder, pushing herself faster, but Ari just continues to dodge, waiting.

She sees her chance when Landers punches high, aiming for her face. Ari ducks low and steps close, landing a quick jab to Landers's stomach. Landers doubles over in pain, her breath lost. Ari follows up with a punch to the kidney then sweeps Landers's feet out from under her. Before Landers can recover, Ari gets on top of her, restraining her arms and legs. Landers struggles, trying to buck Ari off of her, but Ari simply adjusts, rolling them until she is behind Landers with her legs wrapped around hers and putting Landers in a headlock. Landers continues to struggle for a minute but she can barely move. Finally, she taps out.

They both roll to their feet and return to their places at the edge of the mat. Welles's frown is now coupled with eyes slightly widened in surprise and Ari smiles smugly. That match didn't even last two minutes, the shortest time yet.

"It's gotta be a fluke," Ferrel says in the silence, her voice loud like a slap. "There's no way some chick who's never been to boot camp is that good."

Ironhide shoots her a sour look. "I assure you, it was not a fluke. Ari has been trained by myself and my Sparkmate, Chromia. She has received the same training as all of you."

Ferrel cracks her knuckles. "Give me a shot at her. We'll see how good she really is. Or isn't."

"Might I remind you, Ferrel, that this is not a competition. The purpose of this exercise is for Sergeant Welles and me to determine your strengths and weaknesses, not you."

"On the contrary, Ironhide," Welles says. "Having Lennox fight someone larger and with more power could be beneficial to determining where she needs improvement. And to make sure she really is up to speed."

Ari's jaw clenches. They're acting like she's not even here, like Ferrel and Welles are expecting her to fail. But she'll prove them wrong. "I'll do it."

"Ari, that's not necessary," Ironhide says but she shakes her head.

"It's okay, 'Hide. I'll take whatever they throw at me. If I prove myself now, maybe we can actually get on with training." She stomps back into the center of the mat, looking at Welles challengingly. "I'll fight whoever you want."

Welles snorts. "Very well then." He leafs through the pages on his clipboard thoughtfully. "DeMarco. You're up."

"What?!" Ferrel fumes but Welles shuts her up with just a look.

"You lost your fight with DeMarco, Ferrel. If we're going to test Ms. Lennox, we had better be thorough."

Trent steps onto the mat with a predatory smile that instantly sets Ari on the defensive. "Do you really think you have what it takes to face me, Short Stuff?" he taunts.

"I know I do," she answers, planting her feet to wait him out just like she did before with Landers. Patience is one of the most important lessons Chromia taught her. Any opponent can be defeated so long as she is willing to observe and wait for the right moment.

He chuckles, raising his fists. "When I beat you, you'll see just how good I am. Then maybe you'll start to change your mind about me."

She suppresses a flinch. So he's still hung up on that little crush on her, even though she is clearly with Sideswipe. "I won't change my mind, Trent. Sideswipe is mine and I am his. That will never change."

His smirk turns a little dark. "We'll see about that."

As soon as the whistle pierces the air Trent attacks. And he _attacks_ , not fights. He reminds Ari of a rhino, charging head-first, fast and hard and with as much power as possible. But his punches and kicks never connect. She practically dances around him, in the way Chromia taught her. Chromia is a good three times smaller than Ironhide yet she still takes him down more times than not. She knows how to face opponents bigger than her, how to be faster than them and move with them instead of against them until they're all turned around, unable to see her strike until it is too late. That fighting style translated into her holoform seamlessly, and Chromia then passed it on to Ari, who took to it like a fish to water.

Ari sees her opportunity to strike, deflecting his punch with a forearm, easily sweeping his right arm to the side so that he's left open to a punch from her, right to the underside of his jaw. He staggers back but she doesn't let him go, stepping forward to jab him in the throat. He chokes, unable to breathe in air, and she grabs the back of his neck with one hand for leverage, which she uses to deliver a powerful blow to his stomach with her knee. Trent still manages to stay on his feet, though it's more out of stubbornness than anything else. With one last punch she hits him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

She's barely out of breath as she looks down at him. Trent's groaning, his thick skull probably keeping him from being completely knocked out. She sees a little bit of blood on his face and wonders if she broke his nose. She certainly didn't mean to and wonders if she should feel sorry about that. But it was just so satisfying.

Clapping starts behind her and she turns to see John and Evie with wide grins on their faces. The clapping quickly spreads from them all around the mat to the other recruits, skipping Ferrel, Hunter, and Newton predictably, but Ari doesn't care. She follows the applause around the circle until she is facing Welles and Ironhide again.

"Well?" she asks Welles, a little bit cheeky. "Did I pass? Sir?"

Welles's frown is finally gone and he gapes a little, unable to answer, so Ironhide does it for him. "You played with him a little longer than you really needed to, but other than that, you did well. Chromia would be proud."

Slagging right, Chromia would be proud. Though Ari knows this is just the beginning and there's still a lot to be learned before her training is done, it's nice to know that she at least has what it takes to say she belongs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So are you happy with the fluff and the punch? Cause writing it made me really happy. :3
> 
> Next chapter will be up in a few. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	48. We Have Incoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter I've posted today, just so you know!
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari takes a long drink from her water bottle, wiping a few hairs away from where they cling to her sweaty face. For over a week, she and the recruits have been getting one-on-one training to improve their skills, overseen by Ironhide and Sergeant Welles. Now, they're back to sparring sessions, only this time it's two-on-one and with slightly different rules. Either the two need to subdue their opponent or the one needs to survive for eight minutes. More of a challenge and allows them to make sure they've actually learned something. They also have to fight twice today, once by themselves and then again teamed with someone else. Ari already had her fight by herself. She had to fight against both Evie and Newton, working up a good sweat as she pushed herself harder and faster to keep herself from getting pinned by the two of them, but she managed to win the round.

She's discovered that she has to constantly hold back when fighting the recruits though, which makes things kind of harder. They're not like the holoforms, who aren't as easily breakable as normal humans. She can go all out when fighting holoforms, but humans are just too fragile for her, which was proven with Trent. She really didn't mean to break his nose, she wouldn't have if he had been Ironhide. Her improved strength thanks to the AllSpark is both helpful and puts her at a disadvantage since she has to be extra careful with how she moves and hits.

While most of the recruits are taking the learning experience to heart, improving on their skills, some are acting more like stubborn mules. Ferrel and Hunter are on the mat now, taking on Trent. All three of them rely on strength too much as they punch and kick, but Ferrel and Hunter work well together as a team. Ari watches the match closely, leaning back on her hands with her legs spread out in front of her.

"Think Ferrel and Hunter can do it?" Evie asks from where she sits cross-legged on the floor next to Ari.

John snorts, lowering himself down to sit next to his sister. "I doubt it. Ferrel and Hunter have some pretty thick heads and they've been told that they need to fight smarter. You know, be more brain, less brawn. But they like their brawn way too much."

"Trent's been told the same thing though," Ari points out, "and he's never been the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Maybe not, but he's a lot stronger than both of them. You said he was a quarterback in high school, right?"

"Yep, he was on the junior team in middle school, too. He's always had a lot of muscle and prides himself on it."

A heavy thump brings their attention back to the mat where they see Ferrel and Hunter working together to keep Trent pinned. For a moment it looks like Trent might be forced to tap out but then he bucks up, arching his back and forcing Ferrel and Hunter off. Trent quickly rolls to his knees, wrapping an arm around each of their necks. Ferrel and Hunter flail, trying to get out of the headlocks but they just end up looking like a couple of flapping chickens getting their necks wrung. Hunter taps out. Ferrel looks like she wants to keep trying, unwilling to call defeat, but after a few moments she taps out as well.

The three of them get to their feet as Welles and Ironhide go over how well they did, but Ferrel doesn't appear to pay much attention to it. She glares at Ari.

Ari can guess what's going through Ferrel's head. Ari beat Trent on her first try, by herself. Ferrel can't even do it with help. The animosity and jealously Ferrel exudes at for once not being the best, Ari can practically taste it in the air.

Ari and Ferrel haven't been teamed up to fight yet. If it ever does happen, Ari wonders if it would make things better or worse.

"Lennox and Amole," Welles calls out, eyes skimming his clipboard. "You're up against Martinez."

Ari gets to her feet with a sigh, glad that she'll basically be done for today after this, but before she can step out onto the mat they all feel the vibrations of Cybertronian feet echoing through the floor. They turn towards the door, Ari touching her Autobot pendant subconsciously as she wonders if something is wrong. But when she sees Bumblebee burst through the doors his optics are alight with giddy happiness.

"Ari," Bee says excitedly as he rushes over to her, barely avoiding stepping on soldiers leaving the training room, "you need to come quick! Now!"

She's about to ask what's going on when Welles barks out, "No. Lennox is not done with training for today, Bumblebee. Whatever it is can wait."

Bumblebee calms down enough to say seriously, "This really, really can't wait. Ari is needed in the main hanger. I was closest so Optimus told me to bring her."

"And why is that?"

Bee looks between Ari and Ironhide, bouncing in place on his toes. "We have incoming."

Ari's eyes go wide, understanding Bee's excitement as she gets excited herself. They've been waiting for this the past couple of days. She rushes to gather her water bottle and towel. "Do I have enough time to change?"

"We roll out in five so you better make it quick."

"No," Welles snaps. "Training is not over-"

"Ari's duties as Autobot Ambassador supersedes training, Sergeant Welles," Ironhide says. "Optimus and Major Lennox, not to mention the World Security Council, will want her there for this. We can have her do an extra match tomorrow."

"I was also told to grab a couple other recruits," Bee quickly adds. "Optimus figured the experience would be good for them even though we can't bring everyone."

"Alright." Ironhide's calculating gaze passes over the recruits, thinking fast. "Take Amole, Landers, and Tracy."

"Which one?" John and Evie ask in unison.

Ironhide rolls his optics. "Both of you. Now get a move on."

Ari grabs John's and Evie's hands to drag them away before Welles can argue against five of his recruits skipping the rest of today's training.

"What's going on?" Amole asks, a lanky guy with long limbs and blond hair buzzed short. He and Landers struggle to keep up while John and Evie struggle just to stay on their feet. Ari is still pulling them along and running a bit faster than they can keep up with like this.

"We have incoming!" Ari practically squeals, leading them towards the locker rooms.

"So we heard," Landers says, "but what does that mean?"

"Autobots! We have more Autobots incoming!"

"Ari, slow down, we don't understand," Evie says, yanking on her hand trying to get Ari to let go.

Ari stops with an impatient huff outside the locker rooms, turning to face them. "Look, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tracking a large object heading towards Earth over the past several weeks. We thought maybe it's a ship, and apparently we're right since now we have incoming."

"Wait a second," John says. "So when you say we have incoming you mean…."

She nods. "We have new Autobots arriving on Earth. And we're part of the welcome wagon, so hurry up and get changed before we're left behind."

Landers and Evie follow her into the woman's locker room while Amole and John rush off to the men's. Ari's hands are practically shaking with excitement as she peels off her sweaty work-out clothes. She wonders who'll be on the ship and how many. Is it anyone she's seen through the AllSpark? She likes to peruse the knowledge sometimes, late at night, getting a look at what things were like before the war, but there are so many Cybertronians she can't even begin to guess who all it might be.

Though a lot of Cybertronians are dead now. _Most_ of them. With Cybertron destroyed, how many bots could it be, really? After this batch, how many more do they still have to wait for, if any? But the AllSpark only allows her to see so much. She doesn't know how many are left, or who. If she knew, would it be better or worse than she imagines?

"So where are we going exactly?" Evie asks, her voice muffled by the rows of lockers between them.

Ari struggles into her camo pants. "Don't know. It all depends, really. We have a signal that can only be picked up by Autobots that's constantly being broadcasted into outer space, originating from a location about ten miles from here. If their craft is damaged in any way, though, they could end up anywhere." She sits down on a bench to pull on her boots and lace them up, then digs around in her locker looking for a clean shirt. "We'll know more once they get closer."

"How do we even know it's them?" Evie suddenly rounds the corner and stops short, eyes widening. Ari stands stunned for a minute as they stare at each other, shirt hanging limply in her hands, but then she snaps out of it. She quickly turns away, giving Evie her back and tugging the shirt on. But it's too late. Ari glances over her shoulder, sees Evie's stricken look. She's already seen her stomach.

"Ari?" Evie says shakily. "What were those scars?"

Ari closes her eyes resignedly, slamming her locker shut with more force than necessary. Most people don't ask about the scars they see on her arms and legs, figuring they're from normal childhood misadventures. But the ones on her stomach, the "unwanted", those can't be easily explained. And Ari doesn't like to. She doesn't like to talk about them, talk about her past, Ron, the abuse. She'd rather just focus on the here and now, pretending all of that never happened.

But if she's learned anything, especially when she met Lina, it's that you can't keep secrets from your friends.

Another locker door slams near the back of the room, reminding them that they aren't alone.

"Later," Ari says quietly, rubbing a hand over her stomach self-consciously. "I'll tell you about it later. You and your brother both."

Evie nods wordlessly, face ashen. She's probably already wondering all the ways a person could end up with scars like this, none of them good. Especially the truth.

When Landers joins them they exit the locker room, finding Amole and John standing next to Bumblebee in his alt mode, looking over the car appreciatively.

"That is one slick ride," Amole says with a crooked grin, reaching for the driver's side door. He pulls on the handle, but it doesn't open and he frowns.

Ari drudges up a bit of a smile and some sass, hoping to cover her sudden anxiety. "Hold up there, soldier," she says, placing a hand on his arm and moving him out of the way. "This is my seat. You're in the back."

"Aw, come on, Ari," John whines dramatically. "Why do you get to sit behind the wheel?"

She arches a brow at him. "I've known Bee longer, I'm the Autobot Ambassador, I'm the AllSpark, he likes me more?" The door opens for her and she smirks. "Take your pick. And just for that, you get the back, too."

John pouts and Evie laughs at him, patting his back lightly. "Don't be such a big baby, brother. Just get in the back. We gotta go."

They all pile into Bee's alt mode and with a squeal of tires he gets them to the main hanger in less than a minute. The other four are laughing from the wild ride but Ari pays them no mind, getting out and making her way to Optimus. She catches Sideswipe's optics and tilts her head, signaling him to join them. Optimus kneels down, lowering his hand to the ground, and she steps onto his palm.

"Are you ready to go?" Optimus asks, lifting her up and standing to his full height. Ari shifts her weight to keep standing through the movement almost naturally.

"Yeah, we're ready. I have a quick question though. Is it okay if John, Evie, and I ride with you, Optimus?" She shoots Sideswipe an apologetic smile, her hand going to her stomach. "Evie saw my scars just now while we were getting changed. I want a chance to explain it to them."

"It's okay, sweetspark," Sideswipe says, skimming a finger along the side of her face that makes her eyes close briefly involuntarily. Instantly, her nerves settle at the touch. "I understand. But if you need anything, let me know."

"Thanks." She kisses the tip of his finger before he pulls away and then looks up at Optimus. "So is it alright with you?"

"Of course, Ari," Optimus agrees easily. "I am happy to help you in any way I can. Also…." He hesitates for a moment before adding, "I would also like the company."

Her brow furrows as she looks at Optimus more closely. His faceplates are etched with worry, something that is all too common for him, but there are also emotions showing through that Ari has never seen on him before. Nervousness. Uncertainty. Fear.

Guilt.

"What's going on, big guy?" she asks, voice full of concern.

He gives her a small smile. "Nothing that cannot wait. We have a long drive ahead of us so there will be plenty of time."

She looks up at him for a moment, debating, but then lets it go. That's basically a promise that they'll talk about it later. When Optimus says he's going to do something, he does it. "So, I take it that means their ship is damaged? How bad is it compared to the one Bee and the others came on?"

"It is not nearly as bad, but their navigation systems are not fully operational. They are unable to land precisely at the beacon but they are attempting the best they can."

"How far off the mark?"

"We'll know once they're closer but it seems it will be anywhere from ten to thirty miles farther."

She sees Will and Rob arrive, along with a contingent of about twenty soldiers. "Guess we better get going then."

Optimus nods and then begins to transform down into his alt mode around Ari. She's careful to stay completely still since she's never done this with him before. She knows exactly how Sideswipe moves when he transforms, could see each moving part in detail with her eyes closed, but she knows each Cybertronian moves differently. But she trust Optimus and by the time she ends up on the bench seat behind his wheel she doesn't have any pinched fingers or toes. His windows are rolled down so she scoots down to the passenger side and leans out, gesturing to John and Evie to join her. "Come on, guys. Hop in."

* * *

Their long caravan sticks out in the desert. Optimus, Sides, Sunny, Bee, the triplets, two military hummers, and a collection of alt modes for the arriving Autobots: three race cars like what they have at NASCAR, one red Ferrari, one dark blue Mercedes-Benz, and one hot pink BMW. All very, very nice cars, of course.

The number of alt modes is the only hint Ari gets as to who is coming. Six alt modes. Six Autobots. Optimus hasn't said anything else since they rolled out, so after a pointed look from Evie she takes the time to explain her scars and her past.

"That's just sick," John says, shaking his head in disgust. "That's no way to treat your kid."

"Parents are supposed to take care of their kids," Evie says, "to nurture and lift them up."

"Yeah," she says with a sad smile. "That's how it should be. But not everyone has such a great childhood." She stares out the windshield, thinking of what she's learned about John's and Evie's lives growing up, how they had both parents, how their parents loved them, actually _raised_ them, and her throat closes up with a bit of jealousy. It stings, that part of her that still wishes she had a normal childhood. But she also wouldn't trade what she has now for the world. "I have it now, though. Loving parents. An actual family. Will and Sarah, and little Annabelle, they take care of me and support me now, and that's all I need. It would have been nice to have always had that, like you guys do, but at least I have it now."

John and Evie exchange dismal looks. "Things aren't exactly all sunshine and rainbows for us either," John says quietly.

Her brow furrows. "What do you mean?"

"Things have been kind of rocky recently," Evie says, turning in her seat to face Ari more fully and John places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Our parents have always fought a lot," John says. "Ever since we were little."

"But never anything bad enough to lead to divorce," Evie adds quickly. "They're just both really opinionated people who clash heads a lot."

"Kind of like a love-hate relationship, but they really do love each other."

"We've never really been the center of any of their conflicts before. That is, until now."

"What happened?" Ari asks. The way the two talk about their home life, it's always sounded so happy. And they're so kind and compassionate and loyal. What could John and Evie have done to cause conflict?

"We come from a line of Marines," John says. "Our dad was a Marine, and our granddad and our great-granddad before him. When Evie and I showed an interest in the military, our dad expected us to go into the Marines too."

"And we had planned on it," Evie says. "We wanted to make our dad proud and our mom was supportive of us, one of the few instances of raising us that the both of them actually agreed on."

John's mouth presses into a thin line. "But then we found out about aliens."

"And our parents didn't take the revelation very well." Evie places her hand on top of John's, still resting on her shoulder. "They're on the side of Anti-Alien. They want the Autobots to leave Earth."

Ari's stomach drops. "And you didn't agree with them."

"No." Evie shakes her head adamantly. "Of course not. We believe in what the Autobots are doing, that they're the only ones who can truly fight against the Decepticons. And that they have a right to try and make a new home."

"We got into a huge fight one night." John grimaces, his eyes going distant as the memories drudge to the forefront of his mind. "We tried to make them see reason, but they wouldn't listen. Like we said, they don't agree on much very often, but once they're minds have been set, they cannot be moved."

"But we can be just as stubborn. So instead of going into the Marines, we joined N.E.S.T." Evie sighs deeply. "We were hoping it would help them understand but…they haven't spoken to us since."

Well, slag. That must have been hard, for the both of them, but Evie? The daddy's-girl? The good, obedient child to offset her trouble-making brother? From all the stories she's heard from them, this would have been a big move on Evie's part. Ari swallows the lump quickly forming in her throat. "You guys basically started a family feud…over us?"

John chuckles darkly. "Yeah, I guess we did. They even tried to get us turned on each other, Evie and me."

"Dad tried to bend me to see things his way." Evie's eyes get a little glassy. "He tried to get me on his side, like I usually am, but this wasn't about what he wanted for us. This is what _I_ want for _me_."

"And where Evie goes, so does my country." John tries to crack a smile but doesn't quite make it. "Of course, it helped that I totally agree with her. The Autobots are definitely on our side, so we decided to be on theirs. Even if it meant going against our parents."

Chest full to bursting, Ari detaches herself from her seatbelt and leans forward to wrap Evie and John in a hug. She understands rifts between children and parents. She has plenty of them herself, big, gaping ones, but her parents never really cared about her. If something like this happened between her and Will and Sarah though? Parents who actually think she matters? Ari can't imagine suddenly losing them like that, can't imagine that disconnect with them. "You guys…." She swallows thickly, that lump getting bigger. "I don't know if I should say 'I'm sorry' or 'thank you'."

"It's okay," they both say, returning the embrace. "We know."

They stay that way for a while, wanting to help make each other feel better in light of all of their hardships but not really knowing how except with what little physical comfort they can give. Eventually, the uneven road, with all of its hard bumps, forces Ari to sit back in her seat and Optimus places the seatbelt around her again.

"Hey, big guy," Ari says, realizing Optimus has been awfully quiet during all of this. "You alright?"

"Yes," he says, deep voice vibrating through the speakers. "My processor has simply been elsewhere and I wanted to give you as much privacy as I am able at the moment."

"That's okay. But what has been up with you? Since we're all in the sharing mood and all."

He's silent for a minute, the sound of his tires speeding along hard desert ground the only thing filling the cab, when he answers, "Elita-One is arriving on the ship."

"Elita?" Ari squeaks in surprise. "Your _sparkmate_? I didn't know you were feeling her getting closer. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I am…afraid."

Optimus Prime? Afraid? Ari figured the Pit would freeze over before that ever happened. But she can hear the slight shaking in his vocal processor, even through the speakers. "You're her sparkmate, Optimus. What do you have to be afraid of?"

"I am afraid because I left her." The entire cab shivers and Ari rubs the steering wheel soothingly. This is the source of the guilt she saw earlier and she knows whatever this is must be big for him. "During the last days of the war, the Decepticon forces had surrounded the resting place of the Cube. I knew I had to get to it before they could. It was sealed inside a vault that only I, as Prime, knew how to open, but it was only a matter of time. Elita and I, plus a small contingent of Autobots, forced our way through the Decepticons, but during the battle Elita and I were separated. Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and I were the only ones who made it to the vault. I never knew what happened to the others.

"We were surrounded by Decepticons; we were seven against dozens. With no other choice, I took the AllSpark out of the vault and jettisoned it into outer space. However, as you know, Megatron went after the Cube. I tried to contact Elita, but she did not respond and there was no time to look for her. We could not let Megatron reach the Cube. It broke my spark, but I am leader of the Autobots. I have to act for the good of my people, for the good of others. We chased after Megatron and the Cube. And I left Elita behind."

Ari covers her mouth with her hand, not horrified by his actions but devastated for Optimus, that he was forced to make that decision. She's not sure she could ever make herself leave Sideswipe behind. "I am so sorry, Optimus," she whispers.

"Thank you," he says, just as quietly. "It is because I left her behind that I am afraid. Our bond was stretched so thin for so long, I cannot sense how she is feeling, what she is thinking. It will take many days to repair. But in the meantime, I do not know how she feels about what I have done, what I've done to _her_. Sparkmates are supposed to stick together through everything. I am afraid she will feel I have abandoned her."

"Have you talked to her? I mean, the ship contacted you on the comms, right?"

"No, I have not. The bot whom I spoke to was Wheeljack but he did confirm Elita is onboard." Optimus suddenly comes to a stop, the others in the caravan stopping around them. "We are here."

Ari's hand goes to the door handle but she pauses, looking back at Optimus's radio. "It'll be okay, big guy. Everything's going to be okay."

Primus, she hopes so.

* * *

After ten minutes it becomes clear that the new Autobots may not be arriving anytime soon, so they all settle down to wait. Landers and Amole stay in Bumblebee's alt mode, and John and Evie sit on the ground in the shadow Optimus's alt mode casts, looking for relief from the blazing sunlight. Will and Rob are talking with a couple of the soldiers and the triplets. A little ways away she can see Lando talking on the phone away from everyone else. There's a big smile on his face and she wonders if he's talking to his son. Lando has told her a bit about his son before, a ten-year-old little firecracker who stays with Lando's parents while he's deployed.

Ari lays out on Sideswipe's hood, unconcerned by the bright sunlight. She's never really gotten sunburns easily and the heat feels nice to her, especially since the weather is starting to finally figure out that it's autumn now and the temperature isn't even in the nineties. It almost lulls her to sleep when a shadow falls across her face. She peaks an eye open to see Lando standing in front of her, apparently done with his phone call.

"Hey," she says. "What's up?"

He shrugs a shoulder. "Oh, nothing much. Just curious if you know who all's coming."

Ari sits up and crosses her legs, careful not to scuff Sideswipe with her shoes. "Optimus told me that Elita-One and Wheeljack are on the ship but he didn't mention anyone else. Do you know, Sides?"

Sideswipe's holoform materializes beside her, leaning against the hood of his alt mode. "Nope, no idea. Communications cut out before we could find out about anyone else's names."

Lando crosses his arms in front of his chest, his head tilting in curiosity. "So what about the two we know are coming? What are they like?"

"Elita is…Optimus's sparkmate," Ari begins slowly, casting a worried glance at Optimus. It's hard to tell what he's thinking since he's still in his alt mode but she can guess. "And that's all we're going to talk about her."

A couple of the soldiers around them groan and she chuckles softly, knowing they're probably dying to find out what the wife of Optimus Prime is like. But tough. Optimus is nervous enough as it is. She doesn't want to make it any worse by them discussing his sparkmate right in front of him.

"And Wheeljack?" Lando asks.

An image from the AllSpark flashes through her head, of an old mech, but younger than Jetfire had been, with a pair of small spectacles perched on his nose. Wiry strands of metal hang down from the sides of his head, the equivalent of human hair, leaving the top of his head completely bald. There's also metal that makes it look like he has a beard and mustache as well. "Wheeljack isn't really a fighter," Ari says. "He's an inventor; that's what he prefers. One of Cybertron's best."

"He can make just about anything," Sideswipe continues. "He made a lot of our weapons, during the war, but even before that he's always loved things that go boom."

John's grin is almost manic. "A pyromaniac, huh? Sounds like an awesome guy."

"Yeah, he really is." The smile suddenly slips from Sideswipe's face, brow furrowing. "We also really need his help."

Ari scoots forward until she can lean into his side. "You mean with the energon?"

"What's energon?" Evie asks.

"It's like what food and water is for you," Sideswipe says. "It supplies our bodies with the nutrients and energy needed to keep us alive."

"So, what, you eat it?"

"Yep."

"I've seen some of it before," Lando says. "It's like a purple liquid, kind of glowy, inside a cube. But where's it come from? What's it made out of?"

"We got a majority of our energon from the AllSpark," Sideswipe says. "But the Cube needed to be refueled by energon every once in a while in order to keep producing it, so it was like we would put in a little bit and tons more would come out. The energon had to be of a certain purity, though, in order to work. The stuff we got now would never work."

"Where'd you get that then?"

"The most sure-fire way to get pure energon is to mine it from suns. Energon is what makes up the very core of a star. But to harvest energon from a star would cause it to break apart and explode, even if we only take a little. That's what the Fallen wanted to do during the Battle of Egypt." Sideswipe takes Ari's hand, squeezes. "Without the Cube, the Fallen probably would have just gone around the universe destroying suns in order to get the energon he needed."

Ari frowns at the memory, of how the Fallen just tossed her away like trash. He deemed her useless, despite being the AllSpark, because of her weak, fleshy body that can't survive without the Sun, and the Earth and its atmosphere. He could have wanted to use her to make more energon, but she never would have survived his plans.

"Is there another way to make energon?" Lando asks. "You know, one that won't lead to the demise of a star?"

Sideswipe shakes his head. "None that we know of so far. What we have now we get from degrading the energon we already have, making it spread farther, but thin. We're hoping Wheeljack will be able to invent something or else, one day, we're going to run out."

Ari presses closer to him and Sideswipe wraps his arm around her, holding her close. The unspoken question of "What happens when you run out?" hangs in the air, but they all already know the answer. She pushes that thought from her mind. Wheeljack is coming. From what she's seen and heard of him, she knows he'll find a way.

He has to.

"I see incoming," Sunstreaker suddenly says and everyone looks to the sky. There, in the expansive blue, is a dark speck slowly getting larger.

"Is it going to crash like the last one?" Ari asks.

"I don't think so," Ratchet says. "I can see smoke, but not much. And their landing gear is out."

They wait with baited breath as the ship gets closer and closer. Ratchet is right, there is smoke coming out of the engine but it isn't a whole lot. This ship is definitely in a lot better shape than the last one. The other ship was basically scrap after it crashed. As the ship gets closer they can see that it's wobbling a little, but when it comes in to land a few meters from them it hovers in the air above the ground for a moment and then sets down on the ship's three feet. The landing is a far cry from gentle, the ship making a resounding boom as it touches down on the earth, but it does land and all in one peace.

All of the Autobots transform, soldiers and recruits standing at their feet, as they all wait for the ship's doors to open. After a few moments it does, the metal hissing as the panels slide open on the side of the ship. A mech stands there, in protoform, his optics scanning the crowd cautiously. When Optimus speaks to him in Cybertronian, though, he seems to relax.

"What's going on?" John asks. "What're they saying?"

He probably expects one of the Autobots to answer but it's Ari who does. "Optimus is explaining that we, humans, are the residents of Earth and that the Autobots have allied with us in the fight against the Decepticons."

The recruits' wide eyes turn to her. "You actually understand them?" Evie asks.

"Yeah, it's part of one of my marks, knowledge. I understand their language pretty much as much as I understand English, maybe even better. I don't really have to think about it or concentrate in order to understand the words, it all just comes naturally. Can't speak it, though, unfortunately. The human throat and tongue can't make some of those sounds."

Optimus stands back and the mech exits the ship, followed by four more mechs and one femme. Optimus's optics lock on the femme's instantly and Ari knows this must be Elita-One. Ari holds her breath as she watches. She can't see Optimus's face but she can imagine the anxious expression. Elita doesn't look upset or angry. She just looks like she's searching for something in Optimus's face, and Ari realizes belatedly that they must me talking through their bond. Whatever is said, it must not be as bad as Optimus feared, because Elita jumps into Optimus's arms. They hold onto each other tightly, Elita's feet handing off the ground, but Elita is almost twice as tall as the triplets so the height difference between them compared to Ironhide and Chromia isn't as bad.

Will starts to slowly clap and the cheer spreads like wildfire all around, bots and humans. Ari grins. If anyone deserves happiness, it's Optimus. He's suffered so much already, putting everyone else above his own desires. She's so glad Elita made it to Earth.

When Optimus and Elita finally pull away the two of them are grinning. It's the happiest she's over seen Optimus. Ari catches his eye and winks at him. His smile widens, nodding his head a little in thanks.

"Everyone this is Elita-One, my sparkmate," Optimus says, addressing the humans. "Elita, these are the humans of N.E.S.T., our allies and friends."

" _Hello, everyone,"_ Elita says, speaking Cybertronian. _"It is a pleasure to meet you."_

Ari giggles, stepping towards the front of the group since this is technically her job. "It's nice to meet you, too, but I think introductions will go a lot easier if Optimus gives you the data packet he's _supposed_ to give you." She eyes him pointedly and he scratches the back of his head with an embarrassed chuckle. If Cybertronians could blush she imagines he probably would be.

"Forgive me, Ari," he says. "One moment."

Each of the new Autobots' optics dim as they receive the data packet, supplying them with a history of Earth, Earth's languages, and everything that has happened since the Autobots first came here. When they are finished all optics turn to Ari.

"You are the AllSpark?" Elita says, astonished. "How is this possible?"

Ari shrugs offhandedly, knowing this would be the first thing to come up. "The AllSpark needed a new vessel. Apparently, Primus thought me worthy. I've been gaining marks ever since." She shows them her left arm where she has the mark of the AllSpark plus the three smaller marks. "I have the abilities of knowledge, healing, and life. Apparently, I have three more to go."

"A human, worthy of the AllSpark?" one of the mechs says, his voice sounding slightly Italian. "But they are so weak and fleshy."

"Trust me, Mirage," Sunstreaker says, "Ari is a lot of things, but weak isn't one of them."

"According to the data packet," another mech says, his voice sounding like a kindly old man's and possibly slightly British, "these humans aren't weak at all, I agree. They are strong and brave and intelligent chaps, since they've been able to stand up to the Decepticons as they have."

Elita kneels down in front of Ari with a small smile that reminds her a little of the femme Prime. "You especially have had many hardships, Ari Lennox. But you have persevered through them all." She glances knowingly up at Sideswipe. "And I'm sure you will continue to do so with the ones you love by your side."

Now it's Ari's turn to blush. She looks down at her boots to try and hide it, wishing her hair wasn't tied back so it could act as a curtain to further hide her face. "That was in the data packet, huh?"

"Yes, it was." Elita reaches down to lift Ari's head up with a finger under her chin. "I know Sideswipe well. No femme has ever caught his fancy for long. You must be truly special to have managed to capture his heart. This will be a difficult road for you both, but for you to be willing to try despite your differences, you are worthy of the AllSpark indeed."

A solid wall of heat moves in behind her and Ari looks back to see Sideswipe kneeling close beside her. "She is special," Sideswipe says, his optics warm and loving as he looks down at her. "More than I can ever say."

Sunstreaker makes gagging noises and everyone laughs. Sideswipe gathers her in his arms as he stands, shooting his brother and exasperated but amused glare, and Ari just smiles.

Things move quickly after that, with the new Autobots picking out alt modes and the rest of them being introduced. Mirage takes the red Ferrari. Elita picks the hot pink BMW. When she transforms with her new armor two of her tires end up sticking out of her shins, looking like they would be lethal in a fight to add power to her kicks, and the pointed tips on her head, plus her slim frame, give her an elfish appearance. The mech with the British-sounding accent, who turns out to be Wheeljack, takes the dark blue Mercedes-Benz. The last three mechs are introduced, collectively, as the Wreckers. They're engineers and, like Wheeljack, prefer to invent than fight. They also seem to argue with each other worse than Skids and Mudflap. In the end, Topspin gets the blue race car, Roadbuster gets the green one, and Leadfoot gets the red one.

Soon after, they head back to base, having to leave the ship behind. They keep the comms open, everyone in the caravan talking amongst themselves and with the Autobots back at base. Ratchet, Wheeljack, and the Wreckers discuss the best way to get the ship back to base, the Wreckers wishing for the chance to fix the ship up and make it flyable again. Ari talks with Will and Rob about possibilities, thinking of maybe reaching out to Coulson. With his connections, he could probably get the trio set up with some engineers over at NASA. Elita catches up with her fellow femmes, and based on Optimus's quiet probably talking with her sparkmate through the bond on the side. Everyone is talking and laughing together, and Ari can't help but bask in it. Things haven't felt this alive and festive in a long time.

But of course it couldn't last.

Fire greets them. They're still a mile out but with the open desert landscape it's easy to see the explosion. All of the Autobots let out an angry rev as they pick up speed, the human vehicles trailing behind them. Ari suddenly wishes she road back with Sideswipe instead of staying with Evie and John in Optimus's alt mode, and by the way Sideswipe pulls up close next to them, she can tell he feels the same.

"What's going on?" Ari asks, adrenaline rushing through her but she doesn't panic. She wonders if that's a good or a bad thing, to get used to these dangerous situations.

"One of the transport planes exploded," Optimus says, his voice tense.

"Was it an accident or the Decepticons?"

"Neither. No Decepticons have been spotted. But unknown humans have been seen fleeing the base."

"Can we intercept?"

"No, they are on the far side of the base, heading away from us. Jolt is chasing them, but they have a head start and is unlikely to catch up."

No one says anything, the constant chatter over the comms now replaced with a silence laced with dread. Unknown humans broke onto base. Only, no humans know where the base is supposed to be. That was never released to the public. As far as they know, only the Decepticons know where the base is. So either humans have sided with the Decepticons, which is unlikely considering the Decepticons' disdain for the "insects", or….

Ari hardly dares think it, but the suspicion claws at her consciousness.

It gets worse when they skid to a halt in front of what used to be a C-17 transport plane, the flames fighting against the water hoses from the emergency response team. A different splash of red catches Ari's eye and she steps out of Optimus's cab, Evie and John following her. Her breath catches in her throat. Sideswipe transforms beside her and she reaches out blindly until her hand touches his leg.

There, sloppily sketched out on the tarmac in red spray paint, is the Anti-Alien insignia.

Anti-Alien did this. They know where they are.

They know more than they should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, obviously, I took some liberties with canon in this chapter. Though I've done that a lot already, this is AU after all, so I guess it doesn't really matter. I don't know what all went on the last few days on Cybertron, so all of that was made up. With the stuff about the energon, they don't really go into energon and how they get it in the movies, besides the sun harvester, but I used wikis to help me stick as close to canon as possible while still leading things in the direction I want to go. There's also Elita. She was in the second movie, but originally she was just one of the Arcee sisters, which I obviously changed and put in Moonracer instead. I wanted to do Optimus/Elita and her being that short compared to him, it just seemed kind of awkward to me so I changed things. As for the other Autobots who arrived, I don't really know them that well. I want to do some things with Wheeljack, so I'm trying, but with Mirage and the Wreckers, you probably won't be seeing much of them. Sorry. This is already getting to be more characters that I'm used to handling.
> 
> Alright, let's talk about the cliffie. Anti-Alien has been in the background a lot mostly, but now they are coming to get up in our characters' faces. And things are only going to get worse from here. You should be used to that by now though, from me. Cause I love being evil.
> 
> Next chapter, though, NEXT CHAPTER! It is something that I have been waiting to do for so fragging long! You guys have no idea how excited I was writing it! That'll be up tomorrow.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	49. The Hawks and the Spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much fun, guys, you don't even know. 
> 
> ...there are Avengers in here...
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

By morning all that's left of the plane is a smoldering heap of warped metal. The acrid smell of smoke still clings to the air, almost as stubbornly as the spray paint clings to the tarmac. A couple of soldiers work tirelessly to scrub it off, on their knees rubbing sponges sodden with soap and water back and forth in an effort to make the disparaging sight of that symbol, a symbol they have all come to love that's been twisted by cruel minds, go away. They must be sore. They've been at it for over an hour with slow results but they don't slow down. They won't stop until the job is done.

Ari sits in the comfort of Sideswipe's arms, watching, waiting.

She hasn't slept yet, none of them have, but every time she closes her eyes she sees that fragging symbol highlighted by flames. Instead of sleeping, they tried to figure out what happened, holed up in the war room. Security footage was all but useless. Whoever snuck onto base knew exactly where the cameras are. The cameras only catch them for a moment when they make it to the tarmac, and that's only long enough for them to take all the cameras watching them out. All they can make out from the footage are two figures dressed in black with ski masks covering their heads. They can't even make out a gender for either of them. These two Anti-Alien members were smart, efficient, and fast. They were in and out in a matter of minutes, avoiding cameras, avoiding patrols and guards.

Almost as if the two of them knew exactly where they are.

It was with a heavy heart that Ari called Agent Coulson, and it is "Agent" this time. Not just Coulson. Not Phil. She doesn't need him as her friend right now, she needs the Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Because there is a traitor in their midst.

It's the only thing that makes sense, the only way those two people could have snuck on base and got away. They had an immediate roll call after things settled down and everyone was accounted for. That may mean that both trespassers were outsiders, but they, at the very least, had help from a N.E.S.T. soldier.

It's the timing that's the most incriminating, like they knew that new Autobots were arriving on Earth and that they were sending a team out to meet them.

A steady fwap, fwap, fwap causes Ari to look up at the sky to see a helicopter approaching, black and unmarked. She motions Sideswipe to let her down and she approaches the copter as it lands, staying far enough away to keep out of the downdraft from the still-spinning rotors. The helicopter's door slides open and Coulson steps out, briefcase in hand and face carefully blank.

It's that blank face that lets her know how serious he is right now. Normally she can see glimpses of emotion in the lines of his face and in his eyes. Amusement at Skids's and Mudflap's antics. Curiosity at the Cybertronian technology. Surprise when one of the Autobots does something completely bizarre, or something so like humans that it takes him aback. Fondness for her. The complete lack of emotion shows how much he needs to hide in this moment. It covers him like a mask, him yet not him.

They nod to each other and then wordlessly head into the building, Sideswipe following behind them. They go through the hallway containing the Autobot rooms, all the way to the back. The war room is Cybertronian-sized, like most of the rest of the base, with floors tiered around the room on balconies opened up to the center of the room where another scaffold is set up similar to what's in the main hanger. On the tiered floors are their tech people, their analysts and hackers, their support team for all N.E.S.T. operations that create the backbone of missions from beginning to end, from gaining intel to making sure everyone got out safely under the radar. Normally most of the stations are constantly filled, their tech people working around the clock keeping an eye out for Decepticon activity, filling the room with chatter and the tapping of keyboards.

Now it is empty and almost completely silent except for the humming of idle computers.

Ari and Coulson climb up the scaffold to join Will and Rob, all of the Autobots gathered around them, but that's it. No one else. There's no one else they are absolutely sure they can trust.

"Alright," Coulson says, voice stoic, as he sets his briefcase down on the table next to them. "Bring me up to speed."

They show him the footage from last night. The two figures in black as they move through the base effortlessly. The destruction of the cameras. The plane going up in flames from Autobot eyes, the only visual they could get on the scene without the cameras. The symbol painted in an angry red.

"You definitely seem to have an infestation problem," Coulson agrees when they're done, using the same wording Ari used when she called him over the phone, afraid of who might be listening.

"So what do we do?" Will asks. "How do you propose we find them? Interview agents one at a time?"

"You have close to two hundred people on staff here. A small operation, compared to others, but it is growing quickly since your future expansion plans have been set into motion. That's a lot of people to go through and we don't know who to trust. It would have to be just the people in this room conducting interviews and none of you have training in espionage."

"Our lie detection capabilities are quite good," Ratchet offers. "Our sensors are able to pick up on biological tells anywhere from heart rate to facial tremors."

Coulson nods thoughtfully. "Be that as it may, you are all too close to this. This needs to be handled delicately and as subtly as possible. They may not know we are onto them and we need to keep whatever advantage we can get, that way, when the time comes to move in on them, we might have a chance to take down Anti-Alien as well. Plus, I'm worried that they might be after more than just getting the Autobots sent home."

Coulson eyes Ari and Jazz's optics widen in understanding. "Yer thinkin' this has somethin' tah do with the press findin' out where Ari goes tah school."

"The thought has crossed my mind," Coulson admits. "We never found out who told the press that information, but we did narrow it down to the possibility that it was someone inside of N.E.S.T. However, that wasn't enough to go on for S.H.I.E.L.D. to launch an investigation. And now we have another leak of information. It's too much of a coincidence for me. It's more likely that it's the same person, possibly working with others as well. But whoever this leak is, if they just wanted to make the Autobots leave, why did they go after Ari first?"

That thought sends a chill down Ari's spine. Why _would_ they bother with her if they just had a hate-on for aliens? They shouldn't care about her; she's human. Although, her being the AllSpark is common knowledge among everyone at N.E.S.T. now. But what could they possibly have to gain by coming after her?

"So what do you suggest?" Optimus asks.

Coulson smirks. Really, it's just a slight twitch of the corner of his mouth, but it's something and it gives her hope. "I suggest we bring in some professionals."

"What, you want to call in a couple of spies or something?" Rob asks dubiously, hands on his hips.

Coulson's mouth ticks again. "You're really not that far off. They're agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and they are the best of the best. Strike Team Delta. They'll be coming in undercover, though more like a bended version of the truth. Their covers are Agents Natalie Rushman and William Brandt, two low-level agents who haven't been on many missions and tasked to investigate Anti-Alien using N.E.S.T. as their home base, just in case any other incidents occur. This way, they can legitimately have a reason to be here but whoever we're up against is more likely to underestimate them. They'll gather intel from the inside, getting close to whoever they need to until the traitor or traitors reveal themselves."

Optimus shares a brief look with Will and he nods. "Alright," Optimus says. "When do we begin?"

"I've already had them called in. They'll be arriving momentarily." He looks directly at Ari, that twitch just a little bit bigger. "Ari, if you don't mind, I would like you to greet them out on the tarmac?"

Her eyes narrow at him suspiciously but she nods, stepping onto Sideswipe's awaiting palm to go back outside to wait yet again. Another helicopter is already landing, though, black and unmarked like the one Coulson arrived in. Sideswipe sets her on the ground and she approaches cautiously, eying the two people exiting the copter, both of them wearing the standard black pant suit and tie that most S.H.I.E.L.D. agents seem to wear. One of them is a man in his mid to late thirties with short, dirty-blond hair, slight scuff on his chin and upper lip, a nose that looks like it's been broken on more than one occasion, and well-defined arms. The other is a woman with distinctive, wavy red hair that is now well past her shoulders.

It takes every ounce of self-control not to yell out Natasha Romanoff's name. Instead, Ari lets out a squeal of delight and rushes to the agent's side. "You're one of the agents sent to investigate?"

Romanoff sets down her two duffel bags, a small smile playing at her lips. "Yep." She holds out a hand to shake and Ari gladly takes it. "And things must be pretty bad around here in order for the brass to call us in."

"And who is this?" Ari asks, turning to Romanoff's companion.

The man looks around them, making sure no one is close enough to overhear, then sets down both of his bags and holds out his hand to shake as well. "Clint Barton. Nice to meet you."

Ari grins. "Coulson's told me about you. Is it true you set off a paint bomb in the Triskelion and then had to clean it up with a toothbrush?"

A crooked smile spreads across his face, laugh lines crinkling in the corners of his eyes. "Yeah," he says, completely unashamed with a bit of Midwestern twang buried deep in his voice. "Yeah, I did. And it was totally worth it."

"You're going to fit right in then," Ari chuckles. "We've got a couple of pranksters ourselves."

"Awesome. We should all get together sometime. Swap strategies."

Romanoff looks between them disapprovingly, especially at Barton. "We're here to work, Clint, not play."

"Aw, come on, Nat. There's always time for play."

"I agree, there is always time for play," Sideswipe says, kneeling down behind Ari. "Hi. I'm Sideswipe, by the way."

Both Barton's and Romanoff's faces go blank. After knowing Coulson for so long, Ari takes that to mean they're both struggling to process the giant alien in front of them without letting anyone know how they're reacting. She bites her lip, deciding to wait them out.

"You know," Barton says after a moment, voice even, "we've seen two species of alien. Three if you include Loki since he's originally from a different planet than Thor. But this might be the strangest one yet."

"The Chitauri were cyber-organic lifeforms with a hive-mind that kind of looked like reptiles and you think the giant robot is even stranger?" Romanoff asks stoically.

Barton blinks and then tilts his head to the side. "You've got a point."

They both nod up at Sideswipe in greeting, their transition into easy acceptance reassuring, which makes her wonder about that alien comment.

"You both were in New York?" Ari asks curiously. The Chitauri were the aliens who invaded New York, led by Loki. Thor, also an alien, came to Earth to help stop them.

"Well, yeah," Barton says matter-of-factly. "We're part of the Avengers Initiative. I'm Hawkeye and she's Black Widow."

Ari looks between the two of them, surprised, but she's seen flaming red hair in the news reels from the invasion. And she remembers there being a guy on a rooftop, using a bow to shoot at the aliens. She glares a little at Romanoff and says, "Why didn't you ever tell me you were a superhero?"

"It never came up." Romanoff shrugs. "And I thought you already knew. Besides, we're not superheroes. Hawkeye and Black Widow are just the codenames we use for missions, not superhero names or anything childish like that. We're just two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents doing the right thing, protecting the world when we can and looking to wipe some red from our ledgers."

Barton frowns, eyes going distant to look upon horrors only he can see. "And I had a lot of red to wipe out that day," he says quietly.

Ari's brow furrows. "What do you mean?"

A small smile appears on Barton's face but it does not reach is blue-gray eyes. "It's nothing, kid. Don't worry about it."

Ari can see a story buried beneath that mask that's slipped back into place but she decides to let it go. For someone like Barton, and Romanoff, pushing will only make them retreat further and further away. Whatever "red" they're each looking to wipe away, they have to offer to tell her about it themselves. "So," she says lightly, trying to bring back some levity, "you guys know Coulson pretty well, right? Got any good stories?"

Sideswipe nods eagerly. "Yeah, especially anything really incriminating. It would be hilarious to get an actual expression out of him for once."

Barton and Romanoff exchange a look Ari can't interpret but it seems to speak a lot between the two agents. Whatever is said, Romanoff turns back to her with slight concern. "You speak of Coulson in the present tense," she says slowly, each word measured carefully. "You do know he is…dead, right?"

Ari rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I know, he was dead but then he wasn't because he…." She trails off, seeing the confused looks on both the agents. And then she realizes, dumbfounded, "You both still think he's dead."

Romanoff's eyes narrow. "Explain."

But Ari ignores her, running a hand roughly through her hair. Probably not the best move when dealing with someone as deadly as Agent Romanoff, called the _Black Widow_ , but she just can't believe it. When her fingers catch on her hair tie she yanks it out in frustration, allowing her hair to tumble down and wisp around her head in the slight wind. She knew Coulson was playing dead because of what happened in New York. Coulson got stabbed, Fury played it off that he died in order to motivate the Avengers, and then, under Fury's orders, Coulson stayed "dead" without telling any of his friends that he never actually died. Including Barton and Romanoff. She's tried to get him to stop with the act, to at least let the people who care about him know that he's okay. He said he'd think about it.

She wonders if he really ever thought about it at all, instead allowing his fear that they won't understand, that they won't forgive him, to keep his mouth shut.

"Arianna, answer me" Romanoff demands.

Ari's eyes snap to Romanoff's. "Don't call me that."

Romanoff raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything, just gives her an expectant look.

Ari looks at the two agents for a moment, two of Phil's _friends_ , and knows what she has to do. She yanks her hair up, redoing her ponytail, and looks up at Sideswipe. He holds his hand out to her with a smirk and she knows he's thinking the exact same thing. They've given Coulson time to do the right thing, they've given him _plenty_ of time to come clean. Now it's time to take it into their own hands. "Right," she says, climbing up to sit on his shoulder, "come on, you two, we're going for a ride."

"What?" Romanoff deadpans, looking at Sideswipe's outstretched hands. "You want us to just hop aboard?"

Barton grins in excitement. "Take a ride on an alien's shoulder? Count me in." He climbs up Sideswipe's arm, settling down on his other shoulder.

Ari looks at him a bit bemused. "You know, you're the first person besides Rob, my parents, and me to actually be brave enough to sit on an Autobot's shoulder."

"He has a thing for heights," Romanoff explains. "It's one of the reasons he's called Hawkeye. That and his ability to see a lot farther than most people will ever be capable of. Together, plus his almost inhuman accuracy, it's what makes him one of the best marksmen in the world."

" _The_ best," Barton corrects smugly.

"Just trying not to add to that big head of yours, birdbrain. It's big enough as it is."

"I do not have a big head! I am simply stating fact."

Romanoff cross her arms in front of her chest, cocking out a hip. "What is a fact is that you act like a child sometimes." She smiles devilishly. "You should have seen the way he reacted when he found out the acronym of this organization. He was thrilled."

"It's called N.E.S.T.! I'm Hawkeye! How can I not be happy about that? And I know what you're doing." He points an accusing finger down at her. "You're stalling. Get on his hand, Nat."

"Please, Agent Romanoff," Ari pleads. Seeing these two together may be entertaining, but they really need to get going. She knows Coulson is still here somewhere, his helicopter hasn't gone anywhere, but that doesn't mean he won't still run. He must know the two agents are here and has plans to avoid them. "Just sit down on Sideswipe's hand. It's completely safe, honest."

Romanoff searches her face, as if she really is trying to determine if Ari is being honest or not, and then with a noiseless sigh sits down in the middle of Sideswipe's palm, legs crossed so they don't dangle over the edge.

With a grin Sideswipe stands and neither agent gives any clue if they're scared. Although Barton seems too ecstatic to probably be any level of scared at all. "So where are we going?"

Ari pulls out her pendant from under her shirt, hitting the black button for the comm. "Autobots, this is Ari. Does anyone have eyes on Phil?"

Barton and Romanoff exchange startled glances.

::Agent Coulson is still with the others and myself in the war room,:: Optimus says. ::Why do you ask?::

"Awesome. Grab him and don't let him go anywhere. He'll probably try to talk himself out of it but whatever you do, don't let him get away. We'll be there in a minute."

"Kid, what's going on?" Barton asks as Sideswipe takes off for the war room. His voice is evenly controlled but she can see a flicker of hope and fear in his eyes.

They burst through the door to the war room and Ari jerks her chin towards Optimus, who's holding a very disgruntled Coulson in his big hand. "See for yourself."

If both agents still had a firm hold of their masks before, they mostly lose their grips on them now. They're both slack-jawed as they stare at their friend, apparently back from the dead.

Coulson scowls at Ari, which is the meanest look he has ever given her. "This was completely unnecessary."

"You are definitely wrong there," Ari says as Sideswipe sets her down on the scaffold, putting her hands on her hips and glaring up at him. "This was totally necessary! I thought you said you were going to tell them you're alive?"

"I said I'd think about it, not that I'd actually do it."

"Well, why didn't you? They're your friends, Phil! They care about you. Why _wouldn't_ you tell them?"

He sighs deeply, closing he eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Director Fury ordered me not to, Ari, you know that. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone unless given clearance by him to do so."

"That is a load of slag and you know it," she says severely and he opens his eyes. There is some real fear there shining through that mask of his and she is so fragging tired of all these masks. These three are friends, _family_ , she knows they are, can tell by the looks of hurt and relief and _hope_ on Barton's and Romanoff's faces. They all deserve better than this. "Fury is not my boss so I decided to handle this myself. Now fragging get down here and _talk to them_!"

Ari steps back to stand next to Will and Rob as Optimus sets Coulson down on the scaffold a few feet in front of the two agents. For several minutes they simply stare at each other, the tension in the air rippling and coiling tighter and tighter, just waiting for one of them to snap. You wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at them though. They're all standing ramrod straight, faces stone cold.

"What really happened that day?" Barton asks, the voice of an interrogator. And most likely there won't be a good cop. "Did you even really get stabbed by Loki?"

Coulson's jaw clenches, looking like he's fighting with himself, between wanting to tell them the truth and his orders not to let anyone know. But the cat is already out of the bag so, really, he has nothing left to lose. "Yes, I did. Fury found me shortly before I passed out. I remember telling him that this, the Avengers Initiative, was never going to work unless you all had something to remind you what it is you're fighting for; a final push. I remember thinking that I would gladly be that reminder."

"But you didn't die," Romanoff presses.

"I flatlined twice, apparently, but no, I didn't die. I woke up alone in a S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility a week later. Fury told me what he had done, lying about my "death", and said that I wasn't allowed to contact anyone. As soon as it was deemed safe Fury had me transferred to a safe house in Tahiti to finish recovering."

"But you returned to the field. How did you keep this a secret for so long?"

"A lot of sneaking around but, really, it wasn't that hard. Everyone associated with the Avengers is a level 6 or below. I'm a level 8. All missions I was assigned were already classified above you so the only thing I had to worry about was not getting spotted."

Natasha's lips tip downward. "So, basically, knowing you were alive was above our clearance level?"

Coulson winces but doesn't answer, though that was answer enough.

"Forget clearance levels!" Barton yells, storming closer to Coulson until there is only a foot of space left between them. " _And_ Fury! We've skirted around the rules before, Phil. Natasha was on the other side of the line, I was sent to kill her, but I made a different call. _You_ agreed with that call. We turned her around and brought her into S.H.I.E.L.D. Rules have never held you back from doing what's right. Why let it now?"

Coulson's eyes go hard and he lifts his chin in defiance. "Because I knew it would lead to _this_. That you wouldn't understand and that all you would do is yell at me. And I was right."

"Yeah, I don't understand. I don't understand why you let me go all this time believing it was my fault you got killed!"

Ari sucks in a gasp. Why would Barton blame himself for that? Coulson got stabbed by Loki right before the invasion. How could that possibly have been his fault? Her wide eyes dart to Romanoff, looking for answers since the two men have gone quiet, but the agent just shakes her head infinitesimally.

"It wasn't your fault, Clint," Coulson says a moment later, barely above a whisper. "Whether I had died or not, it wasn't your fault. The others weren't your fault either."

Barton looks away, his body shaking with tension. "You still should have told us you were alive."

Coulson lets out a deep sigh. "Clint-"

Barton suddenly eliminates the little distance left between them, wrapping Coulson in a tight hug. "We _mourned_ for you," he says, almost too quietly for Ari to hear. "Yeah, I'm pissed, but I…I'm glad you're okay."

"He's right, _brat_ ," Romanoff says, the Russian word rolling naturally off of her tongue. "You are an idiot if you thought we wouldn't be more happy than anything else to find out you're alive." She steps close to them, placing a hand on Coulson's shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Phil."

Slowly, Coulson raises his arms to return Barton's hug, his eyes closing in relief.

In that moment Ari knows she did the right thing.

_Brat_.

It means brother in Russian.

She doesn't know each of their stories, only bits and pieces, but she can tell that these three agents have been through a lot. Through it all they found each other, forging bonds that, in a way, are thicker than blood. They've been broken since Coulson left, but now the siblings are together again. As it should be. As it should have always been, despite Fury's manipulating. He may have had everyone's best interests at heart, but what he did hurt them.

The three of them part, Barton and Coulson maybe sniffling a little if Ari's hearing right but neither of them would never give it away if they were close to tears.

"What you did was reckless, Ari," Coulson says, though without any real anger. "I'll have to tell the director about this."

Ari snorts. "I'd like to see what he'd try to do. It wasn't right, what he did, and I fixed up his mess. If anything, he should be thanking me."

Barton frowns. "I still can't believe you told her you were alive before us, Phil."

Coulson narrows his eyes at him. "I am the liaison between S.H.I.E.L.D. and N.E.S.T. I'm also going to be showing Ari the ropes to being an ambassador, so of course Ari knows."

"I know, but, I mean…we had to find out the truth from practically a stranger." He sounds hurt and jealous and it makes Ari feel guilty. Barton and Romanoff are a lot closer to Coulson than her. They did deserve to know first, before anyone else.

Romanoff slaps Barton on the back of the head and he yelps in pain. "Don't be an idiot, too, Clint," she says. "If it wasn't for her we still wouldn't know." She gives Ari a warm smile, a real one that lights up her green eyes in a way that shines clear through her mask. "Thank you, Ari. We are in your debt."

Ari shrugs it off. "I didn't do anything much, Agent Romanoff. Just led you to a place and knocked some sense into Phil."

Barton shakes his head. "No, she's right. What you did is a big deal for us. You certainly didn't have to do it, since it went against Coulson's orders. We owe you one."

"It's alright, Agent Barton. I was happy to help."

"Clint," he corrects. "Call me Clint. Well," he second-guesses himself, "you can call me Will for now, since that's my alias for this mission, but when we're alone and when the mission's done, you can call me Clint."

"And you may call me Natasha," Romanoff says, "or Nat for short, since it works for Natalia as well."

It shouldn't be anything much, them giving her permission to call them by their first names, but just the way they say it, it feels really significant. Like she's just been allowed into a part of them and their family that they don't give passes to all that freely. It suggests a trust that probably isn't very easy for them. But they're doing it for Ari. Because she brought their family back together again.

She smiles, the backs of her eyes pricking a little for some reason. "Thank you."

Romanoff, no, Natasha smiles back. "Of course, _kotyonok_."

Ari giggles. "Did you just call me kitten?"

She smirks. "Yes, I did. You remind me of a kitten. Kittens are fierce little warriors, willing to go up against anything that stands in their way despite their small size. But if you underestimate them, you will be sorry and bleeding."

"Thanks," Ari says with a small blush, taking it as a compliment, especially from someone like the Black Widow.

"Wait," Clint says. "You know Russian?"

"Yeah. I know five languages so far, actually."

His eyebrows shoot up incredulously. "Five? So far?"

"You do know about the AllSpark and stuff, right?"

"No," both of the agents say at the same time, curious.

"They haven't been completely briefed yet," Coulson, no, Phil, definitely Phil now, says, straightening his suit jacket. "I was going to leave that to all of you, but I suppose I could handle it now."

Finally, they get back to the task at hand, finding the traitor. Even though it's a grim situation what they are about to face Ari can't help but smile. Her own family just got a little bit bigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, folks, Hawkeye and Widow are finally on the scene! You Avengers fans, let me know how you think of them.
> 
> Anyway, I know a lot of you guys were curious when it was mentioned Coulson was looking into how Ari's school got leaked to the press, but that was never resolved. Well, here is your answer, sort of. It ain't over yet. We've got traitors and I'm curious to see if any of you will catch who it is/they are. I won't tell you how many, recruit or soldier, but I will tell you you've already met our traitor(s).
> 
> And that scene with Coulson. Honestly, I love it in fics when the Avengers find out that Coulson is alive but so few of them actually have scenes showing the argument I'm sure would ensue. So of course I had to write one of my own. And of course everyone would hug it out in the end.
> 
> Next chapter we get back to training and we get some time with our Avengers. That's tomorrow. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	50. A Ledger Dipped in Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I go a bit into Marvel Universe history this chapter, especially Captain America and the Black Widow, but I tried to make it to where you don't need to be a Marvel fan in order to understand. All of you who are Marvel fans, I had to improvise a bit with Natasha's background since the movies don't really explain her history a whole lot. I tried to mesh what I know of her with what's shown in the movies so that this could still easily go along with the movie version of Natasha.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

_**A Ledger Dipped in Red** _

Ari's breath is steady as she crouches low against her opponents. She knew it would come to this eventually, that it would have to. That's why she requested Ironhide to make it happen. Sergeant Welles has been beating around it because, apparently, he doesn't think Ari capable enough to stand up to the task. Ironhide knows that's a load of slag, so when Ari asked him to pair her off against Trent and Ferrel he was more than happy to oblige. She knows Ferrel has been looking forward to this moment for the past two weeks, has been waiting for the chance to take Ari on, and this training session is the last one she'll get. This is the last day for combat training. Tomorrow, they move on to weapons training. This is Ferrel's last chance to prove that she's better than Ari, that she's better than everyone.

Air plans on taking her down a few pegs once and for all.

Trent and Ferrel stalk closer to Ari, side by side. Ari backs up a little but is unworried. Trent and Ferrel are both alphas, both want to take the lead. It's going to end up hurting them. They're both too bullheaded to properly work together. They're not even spreading out to drive her into a corner of the mat.

Ari feints left and then dodges right around Trent. He reaches out widely to try to grab her but his fingertips harmlessly brush her side. She kicks him in the back of the knee and it gives out enough to overbalance him, sending him toppling to the floor face first.

She sees a flash of red out of the corner of her eye but resists the urge to sweep her eyes back for a better look.

Ferrel grits her teeth, leaping over Trent without even bothering to help him up and swings a punch at Ari. Ari weaves up and down, in and out of Ferrel's punches, staying just ahead of her. She sees Trent get to his feet and she starts edging around Ferrel, moving until Ferrel is in front of her and Trent is at her back.

She waits, drawing out the seconds, waiting for the right moment.

Ferrel smirks and Ari moves. She ducks, speeding under Ferrel's arm outstretching in another punch at the same time Trent moves in behind Ari to try to grab her. With Ari no longer between them Ferrel ends up punching Trent in the face. The two of them look at each other slightly baffled.

"Time," Sergeant Welles calls out, a sour look on his face. "Well done, Lennox."

Ari suppresses a grin, wondering how hard it was for him to say that.

"I don't believe this!" Ferrel fumes. She stomps towards Ari, towering over her.

"I agree," Trent glowers, touching his nose gingerly. "You couldn't even throw a punch in high school."

Ari straightens to her full height, chin raised stubbornly. She's shorter than both of them but if she's learned anything the past few years, it's that size doesn't matter. "I never had a reason to throw a punch back in high school but I still could have broken your nose then if I wanted to." She smirks coyly at him. "I do remember kneeing you in the groin though."

Trent's Adam's apple bobs at that but he doesn't say anything.

"I don't care if she can throw a punch or not," Ferrel growls. "She has those freaky AllSpark powers, right? That has to be cheating."

Ari glares, tired of Ferrel talking about her like she's not even here, like some whiny student complaining to the teacher, but before Ari has the chance to open her mouth Ironhide intervenes.

"That's enough, Ferrel," he says, his holoform still just as capable of looming disapprovingly as his bipedal mode. "You've been told, this isn't a competition. There is no cheating. Besides, she wasn't using her full capabilities in that fight. Really, she didn't need to." He crosses his arms in front of his chest, his muscles bulging. "Any of these recruits could have beaten you the same way she did. All it took was patience and precision. You both lost that fight because you didn't work together as a team."

Welles nods his head stiffly. "Teamwork is the only way we will succeed against the Decepticons. You best remember that throughout the rest of training."

Trent's eyes sweep over Ari like the AllSpark really did change her physically and gave her metal skin. He's the type of guy who's always gone after girls weaker than him, the girls who hang off his arm like parasites, the bimbos, the blonde girls who are the source of all the blonde jokes. If he's the alpha, the girls he tends to like are the omegas. Ari isn't any of those things. By the way he slinks off to rejoin the circle of recruits around the mat, Trent's starting to realize that, too.

Ferrel, on the other hand, does not move away. She steps closer, leaning down so her face is just inches away from Ari's. Ferrel's foul breath wafts in the air between them, smelling like the meat and potatoes they serve every day in the mess hall. It makes Ari almost gag.

"Yes, Ferrel?" Ari says challengingly. It doesn't matter how much Ferrel tries. Ari will never be intimidated by her. And really, she has no reason to be. Ferrel is standing over her, trying to look threatening, but she never actually does anything. Ferrel doesn't touch her, can't touch her, and even if she did, they both know Ari can subdue her in a heartbeat. So instead of answering, Ferrel just stalks off in frustration.

There's only a few more fights after that and then they're dismissed for the rest of the day. Ari follows the others towards the locker rooms, talking amicably with Evie as they go through the routine of washing up and getting changed. When they exit it's to find Clint and Natasha waiting, leaning against the opposite wall.

Or, in this case, Will and Natalie.

Both of them wear crisp new suits, making Ari wonder if they brought any other clothes besides suits. They look comfortable enough in them, like they've had to wear them on several occasions before, but by the way Clint fiddles with the cuff of his jacket she can tell he doesn't like it very much. He's the marksman whereas Natasha is the one who is more used to going undercover. Still, they both look like low-level agents not long out of training, just like any of the others she saw during her stay at the Triskelion. No one will be able to tell the difference just by looking at them.

Since their cover doesn't necessitate Ari to have never met them before, she approaches the two agents with a smile. "Hey, Nat, Will," she says, the names feeling a little weird on her tongue, especially Clint's. It's going to be weird switching back and forth between them. "You guys getting settled in okay?"

"Yeah," Clint says, standing straight and dropping his hands to his sides. "We're good."

"We just got the rest of our equipment S.H.I.E.L.D. sent over set up in the war room a little while ago," Natasha says before a smile that could almost be predatory curls her lips. "Just in time to see your match. You fight very well, _kotyonok_."

A pleased blush spreads across Ari's cheeks at the compliment from the Black Widow, a woman Phil has told her can strangle a man twice her size with her _thighs_.

"Who's this?" John asks as he joins them, looking over the two agents and throwing an arm around Evie's shoulders. Evie gives him an exasperated look but leaves him be.

"This Agent Rushman," Ari introduces. "I met her when I stayed at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters for a bit after the Battle of Egypt." She gestures to Clint. "And this is her partner, Agent Brandt. Will, Nat, this is John and Evie. They're recruits in training with me."

Natasha reaches out a hand for a shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Natasha's smile and demeanor is warm and inviting and Ari can't tell if it's real or not. But she supposes that's the point. She's in full working mode now, mask in place to fool everyone because right now, everyone is a suspect. Apparently, she's going for the friendly, easily approachable look while Clint simply nods, his face not exactly cold but it's not really inviting either. One to get up close and the other to observe from a distance. With Natasha being the actual spy and Clint being the sniper she's not surprised that this is their setup, but it is a little jarring, especially when it comes to Clint. Yesterday, it seemed like his personality is usually easy-going with a big helping of mischief. She can't see any of that now.

"Nice to meet you, too," Evie says, shooting Clint a curious look but mainly focusing on Natasha. "So you're the agents sent to help us with our Anti-Alien problem?"

"That's the plan. We're going to track their movements, see what they're up to, and try to find any illegal activity."

John arches a brow. "You mean besides breaking into a supposedly secret government facility?"

Natasha chuckles lightly. "Yes, right. The more we can catch them on, the easier it will be to put them away. And they may not be working alone. At the pace they're growing, there could be an outside organization involved."

So that's the lie they're going with, feeding the idea that they're looking somewhere on the outside while, all along, looking at the people inside of N.E.S.T. Ari hates the idea of doing this to John and Evie, lying to them, her new friends, but they need to keep all of their cards close to their chests. To reveal anything to anybody could cause whoever is really behind this to go running.

"Do you think that's how they found us?" Evie asks, worry creasing her face.

"It's a possibility. There are any number of organizations around the world who have the resources to find this base with enough time and effort. The odds of Anti-Alien pulling all this off on their own is low. We're here to find the trail and follow it while keeping an eye on things in case they try something else."

A pair of arms suddenly encircle Ari's waist and a squeak of surprise escapes her before she recognizes the spark humming at her back. She relaxes into Sideswipe's holoform, leaning against his chest with her head on his shoulder, looking up at him. "Hey, you."

"Hey," he says, kissing the side of her head. "So how long do you have left for training again?"

"Hmm, about six weeks. I've only just gotten through combat training, Sides."

He groans dismally. "But that's so _long_."

She laughs. "We both agreed I should do this."

"I know, but we haven't had time to ourselves in so long."

She rests her hands atop his, thinking back through the past few weeks. "I guess it has been a while since we went on a date or anything. Training doesn't leave me with a whole lot of free time, especially since it takes a while to actually get anywhere from here."

Natasha gives her an unimpressed look. "Really, Ari? You've let training stop you from going out with your boyfriend?" She shakes her head with a tisk. "Unacceptable."

Ari rolls her eyes. "Well, what do you expect me to do? I can't just take a day off. Sergeant Welles would have my head and Ironhide probably wouldn't be much better."

"Must I do everything?" she says on a put-upon sigh. "I already arranged your first date."

Clint's eyes flash to Natasha. "You talking about that time you got Pepper to force Tony into lending his beach out? That was for them?"

Ari notices he's careful to use first names so that no one knows they're talking about Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. They're at the bottom of the food chain. They aren't supposed to personally know famous people like them, especially a member of the Avengers.

The corner of Natasha's mouth ticks in humor. "Yes."

He snorts in amusement. "Wow, she really does like you guys, to put up with Tony for you. They kept talking in circles around each other because he didn't want to give up his beach for one day even though he wasn't using it. Then she invoked the wrath of Pepper."

Natasha's smile ticks a little wider. "And the wrath of Pepper is strong. She has to be in order to put up with Tony as her boyfriend. Never mess with a woman in stiletto heels."

John shakes his head in a little disbelief. "Sounds like quite the friends you got there, to have their own beach."

"They're friends we've known since before joining S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha covers easily. "We're from California, that's where we met them. They have a beach house on the coast that they visit whenever they want to escape the cold from up north. They haven't had time to visit lately, so Tony hasn't had any real need of it." She shrugs one slender shoulder. "Meaning he has no real reason to argue for allowing a friend of a friend to borrow his property."

Sideswipe props his head atop Ari's and holds her a little closer. "Well, thanks for going through all that trouble. We had a great time."

"Of course you had a good time," Natasha says as if it's an obvious truth. "Now, what should I plan for you this time? Since you apparently still need help."

"Oh, no!" Ari says quickly. "You don't need to do that. We'll be fine."

"Nonsense, _kotyonok_.I will handle this. Just give me a few days and I'll have something for you."

"Just nod and say yes," Clint tells them. "She won't let it go otherwise. Trust me."

Ari shares a look with Sideswipe, his face looking so hopeful. She has missed spending time with him so she nods tentatively. "Alright. If you're sure."

"There's just one thing I want in return," Natasha adds, a glint in her eye like a cat who knows the mouse is trapped.

"Like what?" Ari asks suspiciously, wary of what Natasha could want but knowing she really does owe her a lot for what she's done.

"I want you to spar with me. Tomorrow, before training.

* * *

As it turns out, Natasha did bring clothes other than suits. She brought her own workout clothes, a pair of yoga pants and a close-fitted black tee. She's sitting cross-legged on the mat when Ari enters the training room in her own workout clothes. It's early in the morning, well before Ari has to arrive for roll call, so there isn't anyone else here yet. Natasha's eyes are shut, her breathing deep and even, like she's doing some kind of meditation. Ari approaches cautiously on her bare feet, afraid to make a noise that might disturb her.

"Perhaps that's something else we should work on," Natasha suddenly says, eyes still closed, when Ari is only a few feet away.

Ari freezes in surprise. How did she know it was her? She lowers herself to sit in front of Natasha. "What do you mean?"

Natasha opens her eyes, bright green and filled with laughter. "We should work on your stealth. You're horrible at it."

"I'm not _that_ bad."

"I could hear you moving since you opened the door."

Ari blinks rapidly, looking around them. It's almost eerily quiet, sound traveling easily across the expansive space, but it still seems impossible that Natasha could have heard her. "How?"

Natasha smirks, though not with humor. It's self-deprecating, almost mournful. "I have my ways," she says quietly before standing fluidly to her feet. "Come. Show me what you can do."

Ari isn't sure what Natasha is hoping to gain from this fight. Does she want to assess her skill? She would have seen plenty from the fight she saw the day before, though it's true that you learn more about a person's skill from fighting them yourself instead of simply watching. Does Natasha want to know how strong she is then? Honestly, Ari is afraid to show her that. She doesn't want to break Natasha like she did Trent, afraid that it could turn out to be worse than a nose is she's not careful.

However, as they both move simultaneously to attack Ari realizes her fears may be unfounded. The way Natasha moves, it's more dance than any fighting style Ari's seen or been taught. There's a flexibility, a fluidity, to her body that is graceful, beautiful in its own way despite its obvious deadliness. Ari finds herself in awe of her, like a fly in awe of a spider, until Natasha very nearly knocks her to the ground. The hit to the stomach is solid, chasing the air out of her lungs, and a lot stronger than she imagined the willowy agent to be capable of. It makes her second-guess her need to hold back. As she rights herself on her feet she clenches her fists harder, drawing on more of the strength the AllSpark has fueled her with and Chromia has honed into steel.

When she lashes out with a kick Natasha's lips twitch in a smile.

She grabs Ari's shin before the kick lands and then yanks, flinging Ari over her shoulder to land hard on the mat with a loud smack. Faster than humanly possible Natasha is on top of her, pinning her to the mat, her legs atop Ari's legs, her hands holding Ari's wrists securely to the floor. Ari's eyes widen in surprise, squirming frantically to get loose, but she's thoroughly trapped.

"Never underestimate your opponent, Ari," Natasha says, her voice full of mystery that makes Ari pause.

"Nat," Ari says quietly, her brow furrowing in astonishment, "are you enhanced?"

Natasha rolls off of her to sit cross-legged again. Ari sits up as well, waiting expectantly, but Natasha doesn't answer right away, instead watching her with calculating eyes. "What do you know about Steve Rogers?"

Ari's brow raises to her hairline. "Captain America?" What does Captain America, a famous national icon and war hero, have to do with this? "I know about as much as anyone else, I guess. I took AP American History in high school and World War II is one of the things we focused on a lot. Why do you ask?"

Natasha leans back on her hands. "Humor me. Tell me what you know."

"Okay," she says, uncertain as to what's going on exactly but figuring this to be the only way to find out. "Steven Grant Rogers, born July 4, 1920, Independence Day. If that isn't destiny, I don't know what is. His parents came to the U.S. as Irish immigrants. Steve was born in Brooklyn just a few months later, where he stayed the majority of his life. He was a frail child, between asthma and his poor immune system he spent a lot of time sick on death's door but he persevered every time. His dad died when he was little, though, and his mom died of pneumonia when he was eighteen. Then, of course, there's the war. Rogers tried several times in many cities to enlist but the army wouldn't take him because of his many conditions. Then the German scientist, Dr. Erskine, found him and signed him up for Project Rebirth, where he was injected with the Super Soldier Serum. It made him bigger, faster, stronger, and he, along with others, brought down the science division of the Nazis, an organization known as Hydra." Ari pauses there, her eyes going wide in realization. "You were injected with the serum too?"

"A version of it, yes."

"How? Dr. Erskine was killed right after Rogers was made, and what was left of the serum and how to make it was destroyed with him."

"But people have been trying to replicate it for decades."

Something in Natasha's voice make dread fester in Ari's stomach like an ulcer. Her eyes are flat, face blank, not allowing even an inkling of her thoughts to shine through. The fact that she's hiding so completely makes Ari hesitate in her next question, but Natasha wouldn't have brought all this up if she didn't want to tell her, right?

"How did you get the serum, Nat?" Ari asks, voice small.

Natasha looks her steadily in the eye and says, "I didn't get it, it was...forced on me." She visibly takes in a steadying breath. "I was born in Russia as Natalia Romanova. I had a family. A home. But when I was a little girl I was," she licks her lips but doesn't break eye contact, "I was taken by a group called the Red Room. They had many girls, just like me, and they...tortured us...brainwashed us...until we bended to their will. And then they trained us until they created the perfect assassins. Injecting us with the version of the serum they created was one of the final phases, one not many of us survived."

Ari gapes in horror, eyes wide, as she tries to imagine that level of cruelty. How could someone do that to little girls? To anyone? What she envisions isn't human, it's a metal monster, strapping Ari to a table in a cave trying to torture from her what he wants. This, what's happened to Natasha, what she's had to endure, it's something she thought only Decepticons capable of.

But, oh, how wrong she is.

"What..." She coughs, trying to clear the lump of tears from her throat. "What happened after that? How did you escape?"

A fond smile breaks through Natasha's mask, small but there. "Clint. He found me. Well, he was sent to kill me, really, but when he had me in his sights, nowhere to go, he looked at me and made a different call. Phil backed him up on it and together they brought me into S.H.I.E.L.D., showed me that there's more to life than that Red Room, than killing or orders, and that I had a choice. A choice that I decided to protect, for myself and for the world."

This time Ari doesn't stop the tears from falling. Because that look on Natasha's face breaks her heart. It's the look of someone who's accepted their past, which isn't really a bad thing, but it's also the look of someone who's forgotten how to cry for themselves. So Ari rises up to her knees, wraps her arms around Natasha's neck, and does it for her.

Natasha's arms hover on either side of Ari, hesitant. "Why are you crying?" she asks uncertainly.

"Because," Ari replies, her words muffled by Natasha's shoulder, "it's sad, what happened to you. I wish none of it happened and that there was something I could do to make it better but I can't. There's nothing anyone can do to fix it, but I can hug you and cry for you and tell you I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Nat. And I can tell you that I'm glad I met you and that you're my friend."

She feels Natasha's hands touch her back, soft as a spider's web. "Thank you," Natasha whispers, a kind of wonder in her voice. They stay in the embrace for a few moments, both of them taking comfort, before Natasha clears her throat and pulls back, her face perfectly serene. If she had been close to tears herself, Ari will never know. "But that is all in the past. My point is that you don't need to hold back with me as you have been with the other recruits. If you are to learn and grow in your ability, then you need to consistently use the full range of your skills. You can do that with me, and there are some moves I would like to teach you that I believe you will find," her mouth quirks up in a sly smile, "helpful."

* * *

After a grueling workout that can easily rival what Chromia and Ironhide have put her through in the past, Ari collapses back on the mat, laying down to stare up at the raftered ceiling. Natasha just left to go shower and change so she can start her day as Natalie. Ari should be doing the same, roll call is coming up, but she wants the chance to just sit and be for a few minutes, listening to the activity around her as other soldiers start coming in for their own morning workouts.

It's a lot to process, everything Natasha's told her. Ari would never have guessed that all that weight was pressing down on the agent's shoulders just by looking at her. And there is probably a lot more that Ari will one day find out or maybe never know. Natasha has spoken briefly of her ledger of red and wanting to wipe it out, to do more good than any of the bad she's ever done. There are a lot of stories of pain and blood in that ledger, and if Ari never knows them all, then that's okay. She's honored to have been granted just this one little piece of the real Natasha, the one hiding behind the spy's many masks.

A shadow moves in the rafters above her head and Ari squints, trying to make out what it is. Did a large bird find its way in here? Then a rope is tossed down, the length of it unraveling until the end stops just a few feet off the ground, and she sees that it's Clint up there, using the rope to repel down to her until he jumps down the rest of the way to stand next to her.

She arches a brow at him. "You weren't kidding about liking heights. How did you even get up there?"

He smirks and then flops down next to her, folding his hands behind is head as a pillow. "I have my ways."

She rolls her eyes at him and then continues staring up at the ceiling. "So how long were you up there?"

"Long enough." He pauses and she doesn't have to guess what he means by that, especially when he says, "She doesn't talk about her past very often. Information and secrets hold a lot of power, she learned that intimately while working for the Red Room, which is why she's always guarded hers close so no one can use them to hurt her. You're one of less than ten people who know as much about her as you do now."

Ari turns her head back to him in surprise. She knew Natasha was a private person but she didn't expect this, for the circle to be so tight. "I would never use her past against her," she says fervently. "Promise."

"I know you won't, and she does too. She trusts you. Wouldn't have told you if she didn't. But," his eyes shift away, downcast, "she has a hard time believing people will trust her back once they know the truth. She doesn't think she deserves other people's trust because of the things she's done."

Outrage simmers low in her stomach, sincerely hoping no one has ever actually said that to Natasha. Because that's not fair, to place all the blame on her after everything that's been done to her. Ari certainly doesn't see it that way, so she sits up and says, "So you're saying I should show her that I trust her too. How?"

Clint sits up as well, resting his forearms on his bent knees. "You need to do it through action, not with words. Words don't have a whole lot of meaning to her."

Ari nods thoughtfully. Yes, Natasha's been lied to and manipulated for a vast majority of her life, and does it herself practically on a daily basis as part of her job. "So what do I do to show her I trust her?"

"That has to be up to you. She reacts differently to everybody. Took me months of standing between her and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the World Security Council to make her realize I wasn't going anywhere." He claps her on the shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "But don't worry, kid. I'm sure you'll figure it out. If you genuinely want to be her friend, then you'll recognize the moment when you see it."

* * *

Ari's still thinking about it later that night when they're in the rec room. Clint and Natasha use the opportunity to mingle with the soldiers and recruits. They meet Lando, Amole, Welles, and Landers. They meet Trent, Ferrel, and her little cheerleaders. Their smiles are easy but their eyes are calculating as they spread their story and learn about everyone. Ari can't tell if they have any ideas yet as to who the traitor is, but it's probably too early for any of that anyway.

Someone challenges Clint and Natasha to one of the multiplayer games they have for the PS3 so they gather in front of one of the TVs, Clint taking an armchair and Ari and Natasha on one of the couches. Ari just sits and watches, tired from having to wake up earlier than usual for her workout with Natasha and then a long day of cleaning and assembling guns. Tomorrow they begin the actual shooting, which she isn't worried about at all. Ironhide was a good teacher and they are both confident in her abilities.

She misses Sideswipe though, even though he's only out on patrol, but it also melds into her fear. The Decepticons have showed up again, the first time since Egypt, confirming that more Decepticons have arrived on Earth. Optimus took some of the Autobots and soldiers to go deal with it, so Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are helping keep an eye on things here. The Decepticons aren't planning anything yet, it sounded like a simple sighting, but how long will it be until they do start planning? How long until they put that plan into action? And who is going to get hurt in the process this time?

A yawn tears itself out of Ari's mouth, big and wide. She can feel her eyelids drooping but is too stubborn to go to bed now, wanting to wait for Sideswipe. She tries to rub the sleepiness from her eyes but it just seems to make it worse. At this rate she's going to fall asleep on the couch.

That thought gives her pause. She sneaks a glance at Natasha out of the corner of her eye. She's lounging comfortably in the far corner of the couch, watching the game Clint and Lando are playing with a look that is both fondly exasperated and amused. Thinking it won't hurt to try and she's dead tired anyway, Ari slowly slides on the couch until she is laying down. She feels Natasha freeze next to her but keeps going until her head is nestled in Natasha's lap. Natasha's legs are tense beneath her so she snuggles a little bit and then lets out a contented sigh. This really is quite comfortable so she doesn't have to work hard to get her breathing deep and even.

She's completely vulnerable in this position. There is the threat of a traitor, not to mention the constant threat of the Decepticons. There's a reason she sleeps with Sideswipe instead of in her own room. To fall asleep here, she's showing Natasha that she trusts her to protect her, to watch her back.

Several minutes pass before Natasha finally relaxes, setting her hand lightly on Ari's shoulder. Ari lets out another sigh and mumbles, "Goodnight, Nat."

Ari starts to doze off, thinking Natasha isn't going to reply, when she hears, "Goodnight, _kotyonok_."

Sleep takes Ari, but not before she feels gentle fingers stroking through her hair and the soft humming of a lullaby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny, when I first decided to add in the Avengers and everything I did it with practically the sole intention of making Ari close to Clint. The Natasha & Ari relationship just totally took off though. There'll be plenty of Clint & Ari next chapter, but, yeah, it kind of took me by surprise. I am glad I did it though.
> 
> I hope you Marvel fans like what I did with Natasha though. I've read so many conflicting versions of her it was hard to decide what to do but most include her receiving a version of the serum, even though the movie doesn't go into that. 
> 
> Next chapter there'll be some Clint & Ari, there'll be some Ari/Sides, and there'll also be something else that I've been waiting to write for a long time. And none of you are going to like it. *evil laugh*


	51. Trust No One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot there wasn't as much Ari/Sideswipe fluff this chapter. Clint kind of took over and I figured I'd ablige, get his backstory done as well since I already did Natasha's. And then there's the bad thing of course. :)
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The huge sound-reducing headphones feel bulky over her ears and the clear safety glasses are awkward on her face. Ari wishes they didn't have to practice firing weapons with them, at least, she wishes _she_ didn't have to. She's done all of this before, but she's determined not to have any special treatment so she's following all of the shooting range's safety measures, even though she finds them slightly ridiculous. After all, they won't have goggles and headphones in the middle of a battle. They'd just be a hindrance. She'd rather practice without them, getting used to the booming bangs echoing in her ears so loud they almost drown out all other sound with each shot and the bright flashes as bullets explode from the barrels of the guns. That's how it'll be in real life.

Ari stands with a steady stance in her little cubby, feeling cut off from everyone else, especially with the headphones. Her breathing is loud in her ears and that's all she can hear besides the occasional bangs from the other recruits firing their weapons. They're starting small and working their way up to the big guns, a glock held firmly in her hands right now. She stares out at the target down the range, a paper silhouette of a person even though it won't be people they'll be shooting at. It works well enough for now. Between breaths she squeezes the trigger, bang, bang, bang, bang, the kickback vibrating up her arms but her aim stays true. She moves her focus on the target and shoots again, eyes never blinking as she empties the clip. Setting down the gun, she presses the button to bring the target to her. Perfect clusters in the center of the chest and head.

With quick, meticulous movements perfected from numerous repetitions she disassembles, cleans, and reassembles the gun in short order. When she's done, she slips off the glasses and headphones, a small, proud smile on her face.

"Not bad, kid," a voice says behind her and she turns to see Clint leaning against the wall. He straightens and joins her in the small space of her cubby but there's plenty of room for the two of them. "You know how to handle a gun better than most rookie S.H.I.E.L.D. agents I've seen."

Her smile grows as her face grows warm with a blush. "Thanks. That means a lot actually."

He cocks his head curiously, waiting for her to continue, so she sets the gun down and leans back on the table. "The AllSpark changed me a lot, you know? It made me smarter, faster, stronger. So being good at fighting or being able to run the obstacle course really fast, those don't really feel like things I've accomplished myself. I never would have been able to do them if it weren't for the AllSpark. But shooting, that's something that none of the changes actually affect. Being able to use a gun as well as I can, that's all me. That's something I've accomplished, all on my own."

"Aw, come on, Ari," Clint says, moving to lean against the table beside her and knocking her shoulder with his. "You've accomplished all that other stuff by yourself, too. I mean, it's not like the AllSpark changed you and then, BAM, you could automatically do anything you want. You had to put in a lot of time, effort, and training into it, right?" He waits for her answer and she nods tentatively. "That still makes it something you've accomplished. Saying it isn't is like saying Steve Rogers becoming Captain America isn't something he did himself. I mean, he could have stayed the posterboy for the war, going around like a dancing monkey and spreading propaganda, but he didn't. He stepped up to the plate and crafted what they made him into the world's first superhero. So, sure, maybe it came easy to you, but it's still you, not some alien cube."

Huh. She's never really thought of it that way before, that the AllSpark made her capable but she's still the one who reached out and grasped it. He's right. None of this would have happened on its own just because the AllSpark changed her. She may feel foreign in her own skin sometimes but it is still her, human and whole, and her accomplishments are her own. A smile drifts across her face and then something about what he said finally clicks. "Wait, did you just compare me to Captain America?"

"Well, yeah. You can't ignore the similar aspects in the origin stories."

She huffs out a laugh. "And now you're calling me a superhero."

"You saved the world twice so far, kid. I think that qualifies you for superhero status."

She opens her mouth to retort but then snaps it shut again. Really, his logic is sound. All the Avengers really are, are people with special abilities who decide to do the right thing and end up saving the world. She qualifies across the board. Then she imagines herself wearing spandex, fighting crime with her blades on her wrists and the power of the AllSpark at her fingertips, and shakes her head at the ridiculousness of it all. No, she could never be a superhero.

That won't stop her from always doing the right thing though.

Sergeant Welles suddenly calls out to the group, telling them to turn in their targets, and Ari resists the urge to roll her eyes. Honestly, he can be just as bad as some of her college professors, wanting them to turn in every little thing for a grade. At least with her online classes she doesn't have to deal with the instructors personally.

Ari hands in her target, passing Ferrel along the way. Ferrel is looking smug, holding the target facing away from her so that everyone can see. She did good, Ferrel is probably one of the best shots in the class, so Ari just gives her a small smile and a nod of congratulations, not wishing to provoke her.

There's still the feeling of daggers stabbing the back of her head as she walks away though. Honestly, nothing will appease that girl.

When she returns to her cubby she finds the gun she'd been using already gone and Clint standing facing down the range, a large weapons case on the table in front of him that wasn't there before. He's shed his suit jacket and has his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow. She arches a brow curiously but he just looks at her over his shoulder, mouth crooked in a lopsided smile, and holds a finger to his lips. His eyes scan over the exiting recruits and she recognizes the distrust lurking in the back of his eyes, the same distrust that has been creeping over her. Any one of these people could be the traitor. It could be Ferrel. It could be Hunter or Newton. It could be Sergeant Welles.

It could be Evie or John. She dreads that, more than anything. That her new friends could be involved in this.

The recruits steadily trickle out of the range, going back out into the training room. Evie and John pause by the door, looking back at her, but she just wordlessly waves them on. She'll catch up with them later.

Though, really, she should be keeping her distance from them, not knowing if one of them is a traitor or not. She knows it would be safer that way. The others think so, too. She can tell by the way Sideswipe always grabs her to hold her before she can even reach the stairs of the scaffold to sit on the couch. She can tell by the way Natasha hovers close by and Clint is always watching her. She can tell by the way Will and Rob always check in with her as soon as they get back from a mission to make sure she's okay. None of them ever let her be near any of the recruits alone anymore without someone they trust close by.

She can't wait for this to be over. Their paranoia makes her feel like, when she's with Evie or Lando or Amole or anyone else, one of them will come up behind her and stab her in the back. She want to not feel like she always has to look over her shoulder.

As soon as the door closes behind Welles, Clint unzippens his bag. Ari draws closer as he looks around one more time to make sure they're alone and then lifts something out of the bag. With a jerk of his arm it snaps open into a beautiful black compound bow. He sets the bow down on the table carefully, like it's made of glass, even though it's built to survive combat. He then pulls out two strips of black, an arm guard for his right arm and a wrist guard for his left wrist, and slips them on. Lastly, he pulls out a full quiver of arrows.

"Lock the door, would you?" Clint asks as he slings the quiver on over his head. "There's no one else scheduled to be in here for another hour but I want to be sure."

Ari turns the deadbolt on the door and then returns to lean against the wall of the cubby, well out of Clint's way. "Would it really be that bad if someone caught you practicing with your bow?"

"Well," he notches an arrow, brings up his arms, and pulls back on the string, aiming at the target all the way at the end of the range, farther than any of the recruits were practicing today, "how many people do you know who uses a bow and arrow?"

"Honestly? You're the only one."

"That's pretty much true for anyone who's ever met me. So what do you think the odds are of there being two archers within S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

She nods her head after a moment of consideration. "Yeah, okay, I see what you mean. Are there even any others?"

"Nope. I'm the only one. So anyone who sees me with my bow, knowing I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, will probably put two and two together that I'm Hawkeye." He looks back at her with a cocky smirk and, eyes still on her, looses the arrow. It zips through the air, almost silent, to pierce the center of the target and back wall with a solid thunk.

Ari whistles, long and low, impressed. "Slag. That was a perfect bullseye."

"Why, thank you." He turns to give her an exaggerated bow, bending in half while still keeping all of his arrows in the quiver. He then quickly straightens and, in quick precession, looses arrow after arrow to form a straight line of arrows on the target, from top to bottom.

She rolls her eyes. "Now you're just showing off."

He grins. "Maybe a little."

"Aren't you afraid of showing off to the cameras?" She nods to a security camera in one corner of the room. Anyone could be watching.

"Nah, Nat's covering for me. No one will ever know I was in here. Besides, we vetted through all of the security detail already, since they were the ones most likely to have helped Anti-Alien break get on and off base without getting caught. None of them are traitors."

"Have you ruled anyone else out yet?" Ari asks eagerly. "Like any of the recruits?"

He sighs, placing his bow down on the table and turning to face her. "I'm sorry, Ari, but we haven't ruled anyone else out yet. But the recruits are who we're going to be focusing on next."

"Oh," she says softly, looking down at the floor in disappointment.

He places a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezes. "I know you want your friends to be innocent, but we can't rule them out yet, especially since their parents are members of Anti-Alien."

"But they don't agree with their parents," Ari insists. "They believe the Autobots are here to help, not hurt us. That's why they joined N.E.S.T."

"That's what they told you but maybe that's not the truth. They could have lied to you, Ari. There's just no way to know for sure."

"But I trust them."

A shadow falls across his face, his eyes doing dark and his jaw clenching. He steps back from her to lean against the table, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Sometimes it's the people you trust most who end up betraying you in the end."

Ari pulls up short at that. There's such...sadness and...regret in his voice. "Are you speaking from experience?"

He doesn't meet her eye, fingers tapping on the top of his bicep. She doesn't think he's going to answer and then he gives one curt nod.

She bites her lip for a moment and then hoists herself up to sit on the table, patting the space next to her. It sounds like an old hurt, one he's talked about before and won't ever really get better, but she invites him to tell her about it. He doesn't have to, by the way he stands rigid, this is probably something few people know about, not something he talks about with just anyone, but she lets him know with her smile that he can tell her if he wants to.

She's starting to understand that all secret agents have their secrets, but she wants them to know that they can trust her. Even though trust, for them, seems to be something they constantly struggle with.

She's not sure what tips him off the fence, whether it's his own trust in her or Natasha's, but he hops up on the table next to her.

"I have a brother," he begins slowly, his mask keeping his emotions in check so that she can't tell what it is exactly he's thinking and feeling as he speaks. He doesn't look at her but stares off into the distance, as if he can see his brother standing there at the opening of the cubby. "His name's Barney. He's a couple years older than me. Our parents died in a car crash when we were little and he's the one who took care of me. We bounced from foster home to foster home, never staying in one place too long. We always had each other's backs but Barney was still the stronger one. He always seemed to know when it was time to hide, which foster parents' we needed to stay on the good side of. When I was eight there was this one foster parent...he was worse than all the others. It didn't matter if we hid, he always found us and he...he'd..."

His hands clench in his lap, fingers digging into his slacks. Ari places her hand atop his and his fingers let go, if only slightly. "It's okay," she whispers. "You don't have to say it."

Because she already knows.

Still, he doesn't look at her but he does continue, "We decided to get out. We could take better care of ourselves than the system was. The thing is, the street isn't a very friendly place, especially to kids. But then we found our haven. There was a circus visiting town and we went to them begging for shelter. The ringmaster said we could join the troupe in exchange for labor. Things weren't instantly better. We put a lot of work in but got little in exchange by way of food or a comfortable place to sleep. We slept on piles of hay with the horses, stomachs still grumbling, more often than not. But it was a life, and one better than the one we left.

"Barney never really found his niche. He just kind of did odd jobs, doing whatever needed done. But me, one of the performers, a guy named Jacques Duquesne, took me under his wing. His stage name was the Swordsman and I helped him with his acts. Then we found out I had a talent for marksmanship. Duquesne had Buck Chrisholm, another performer known as Trick Shot, teach me how to use a bow. The two of them taught me most of what I know. Wasn't long till I had my own act, the Amazing Hawkeye." He smiles wistfully. "Things were good after that for a while."

"What did your costume look like?" Ari asks, wanting to keep that smile there even though she knows it won't last, that something bad is coming, but she tries to put it off for his sake.

He groans playfully and she can see the gratefulness shining in his eyes. "Ugh, it was this awful purple spandex monstrosity. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love purple, but Barney made fun of me for weeks after seeing me wear it for the first time."

Ari laughs. "Please tell me there's a picture of that somewhere."

"Nope, not gonna happen. I burned them all, the show posters too."

"Eh, I'm sure Nat or Phil can help me find one."

He narrows his eyes at her. "Don't you dare."

She grins. "Watch me."

He points a finger at her threateningly. "We'll revisit this later."

"If you say so," she taunts, but then there's no putting it off any longer. The smiles slip from their faces, no matter how hard they try to keep them on. "So things were good for a while after you first became Hawkeye?"

He nods somberly. "Yeah. Or, at least, I thought they were." His Adam's-apple bobs as he swallows and she grips his hand harder. "I caught Duquesne stealing money from the circus. And Barney was helping him." His voice goes really quiet, like it's being crushed by the weight of his words. "My mentor and my brother. Neither were happy with the way things were and they didn't care who they hurt in order to make their own lives better. I tried to make Barney see reason and when he didn't I tried to stop him, stop them both." He looks down at their joined hands, eyes glistening. "My own brother stabbed me with a knife and left me for dead. They got away and I haven't seen either of them since."

Ari gasps, horrified. How could his own brother do that to him? His brother, who spent most of his life protecting Clint from the horrendous things people can be capable of? How can he just turn around and be just as horrendous as them? She scrambles up on her knees on top of the table and throws her arms around his neck in a fierce hug because, just like with Natasha, what else can she do? Nothing she says or does can ever make something like this right but she can offer whatever comfort she's able. Unlike with Natasha, though, Clint latches onto her, returning the hug just as fiercely, like this is something he's been waiting for and secretly needing all this time but never thought to ask for.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, wishing she could offer him more but finding nothing in her hands. "I know what it's like to be betrayed by family."

Ron. Judy. Parents who were supposed to raise her, take care of her, _love_ her, but only thinking of themselves.

"I know you do," Clint says into her neck before pulling back to look at her, eyes still slightly glassy but tears never falling. "That's why you should understand where I'm coming from. I thought I could trust Duquesne, I thought I could trust my _brother_ , the only family I had, but I couldn't. They turned on the circus and on me. That's why I'm asking you to not put too much trust in your friends or the other recruits. Any of them can end up turning on you, even the ones you trust most."

It hurts, thinking she can't trust Evie and John, but his words scare her. He probably didn't mean for that to happen, at least not entirely, but what if Evie and John did join N.E.S.T. just to get close to her? Really, any of the recruits are in prime positions to be the perfect spies since she's training with them. They've all been forced to be close over the past weeks and they have several more weeks to go. They've learned about one another in ways only near-constant close proximity and training can do. And her friendship with Evie and John makes it that much easier for the twins to learn more about her.

How much does Anti-Alien know?

She doesn't like it but she nods, resigned. "Alright. I'll try to keep my distance. Spend more time with you and Nat or maybe some alone time with Sideswipe if I can."

"Good," he says approvingly and then a sly smile spreads across his face, ready to move this conversation away from his past. "Speaking of, there was another reason I came down here. Nat wants to talk to you."

"Oh? What about?"

His smile widens. "She has a date all planned out for you and Sideswipe. Just need to go over the details with you and pick a day."

Unease turns in her gut, thinking of the all the times she's placed herself under Natasha's strict care. "I'm not going to regret this, am I?"

"Nah, it'll be fine." He slides off the table and begins putting his equipment back in the bag. "Come on, we should probably go find her before she comes and finds us."

Clint's phone rings inside his suit jacket and he pauses in his packing to fish it out. After a brief glance at the screen to see who it is he answers immediately. "Yes, sir?" he says, voice professional and Ari slips off the the table as well. This is someone from S.H.I.E.L.D., a higher-up, maybe Fury, maybe Phil and this just isn't a friendly call.

The call doesn't look friendly at all.

Minutes pass as Clint simply listens, making the occasional noise in negative or assent to let whoever is on the line know he's listening. But all the while his eyes get harder, his mask pulling around him more and more tightly as a defense mechanism. The more she can't tell what it is he's thinking, the more serious she knows it is, and it turns her stomach sour. She knows it doesn't necessarily have to do with N.E.S.T. or her but some instinct, whether the AllSpark or her own, tells her that this is something bad and it's going to directly influence her.

"She's right here," Clint suddenly says, the first full sentence he's said since his initial greeting. He listens for a moment longer before handing the phone to her.

"Hello?" she says into the phone.

"Ari, it's me, Phil." The agent's voice sounds haggard, tired. Like he's on the other side of a rough mission and he didn't necessarily end up on top.

"Phil?" Dread festers in her stomach. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Ari, I need you to listen to me very carefully. What I'm about to tell you…I know it's going to scare you but you need to remain calm."

It's hard to remain calm with the words he's saying, but she listens, hears what he's saying, understands, but is terrified to accept. Her heart stops. Or is that her breath? Yes, she's no longer breathing, but when she takes in a deep breath it ends up as more of a choked sob.

This can't be happening.

The phone slips from her fingers, Phil calling out her name over and over again, but there are just two words she hears anymore.

_He escaped_.

Clint catches the phone before it shatters against the floor but before he can touch her she's running, out the door, through the training room, flying blind.

This can't be happening.

Once she's outside breathing doesn't get any easier. If anything, her breaths are coming faster now, hyperventilating, each chasing the next with her terror nipping at their heels.

_He escaped_.

She knows what she needs but doesn't know where to go, so she takes out her pendant and pushes the black button. But no words come out of her mouth, they can't make it past her restricting throat. Her knees buckle underneath her and she collapses in the dry dirt, feeling more helpless than she's felt in years.

::Ari?:: Sideswipe says over the comm link and she feels such relief at the sound of his voice but it's not enough, not nearly enough. ::Are you there? Are you alright?:: She tries again to say something but all that comes out is another sob. There's wetness on her cheeks but she doesn't remember when exactly the tears started. ::Sweetspark, you're scaring me. You pushed the button for the comm. Please answer me if you're there.::

But she can't answer. Just keeps thinking about how this can't be happening.

::Ari, if you can't answer, then push the red button so I can find you, alright? Let me find you and I'll be there soon.::

But the red button is only for dire emergencies.

This feels like one.

Because _he escaped_.

She pushes the button and waits for him to come, drawing her legs to her chest and pressing her face to her knees. Her breathing still isn't steady but she can't make it stop because she feels so vulnerable right now, so exposed. A hand, a human hand, suddenly touches her shoulder and she cringes away, even though she knows it's probably just Clint, having caught up with her, but she can't…she can't. Everything she's done, everything she's worked for, it's all crumbling down around her ears. She thought she would have more time to get stronger, she thought she'd be more prepared.

She knew this day would come but not like this, never like this.

Warm metal envelopes her and a whimpered keen escapes her throat in relief. She clings to Sideswipe, arms wrapped around his neck like a vice, as if she's afraid that if she lets go the earth will open up and swallow her whole.

"Ari, sweetspark, what's wrong?" Sideswipe asks, holding her close with one hand stroking her hair. "Come on, Ari, you gotta talk to me."

"I know what happened," Clint says but she doesn't look, just buries her face in Sideswipe neck, eyes screwed up tight. She doesn't want to hear the words again. Maybe if she doesn't acknowledge it then it won't be real.

"What happened?" Sideswipe demands, his protective instincts already working overtime.

"Phil called. He's on his way now to go over what happened in detail, but he figured she would want to know as soon as possible." He hesitates, but at Sideswipe's growl he spits it out. "It's her father. Her biological father, Ron Witwicky. He's escaped from prison. It looks like Anti-Alien busted him out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, man, I am so evil! :D
> 
> Did you guys forget about Ron? I know some of you wondered if he'd be coming back but I never confirmed nor denied. Well, here's your answer.
> 
> And things are only going to get worse. So much worse.
> 
> On another note, I hope you guys like Clint's backstory. Like I said, his wasn't any easier to put together as Natasha's, especially with Age of Ultron and the whole Laura thing.
> 
> Next chapter you finally get more Ari/Sides fluff. Cause Natasha always gets her way. :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	52. Will I Regret This?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, just go onward and enjoy!

Ari doesn't leave the safety of Sideswipe's arms for a long, long time.

Give her Decepticons. Give her Megatron or the Fallen. She'll face down the World Security Council or even the entire world. She will take on all of that and more without batting an eyelash.

But make her face Ron, his escape from prison, his potentially coming after her, and she is reduced to that scared little girl again. At least now she doesn't have to face this alone, unlike before, when Ron was downstairs, drunk, and she was hiding in her room, hoping, praying, he wouldn't go looking for her.

She burrows closer to Sideswipe's chassis, the metal armor unyielding but it still feels like she can't get close enough. He automatically adjusts to her movement, holding her even closer, hand cupping the back of her head. His grip is just this side of painful but she doesn't care. He could be squashing her and she wouldn't care, because she can feel the ghost of her father, just on her periphery, threatening to pull her under and drown her in the memories of all that he's done to her and her fears of what he will do to her if he finds her. Right now, Sideswipe is the only thing grounding her.

He's the Guardian, standing at her bedroom door, waiting to beat her father back down the stairs if he dares come close.

He isn't her only Guardian though.

Sideswipe is sitting on his berth, bent knees drawn close and Ari cradled to his chest, his entire body curving slightly around her, almost possessively.

And sitting on the floor at the foot of the berth, facing the door, is Sunstreaker. He hasn't moved since they came here with the need to draw away from everyone else like a tactical retreat. He's kept a silent vigil, guarding them, guarding her, a sentinel.

For all of Sunny's talk, picking on her, saying he doesn't care, it's all just an act. If asked, he'd say he's just doing this for his brother, because Sideswipe cares about her, because Sideswipe's protectiveness is bleeding through to Sunny through the bond, but she knows that's not entirely true. He cares about her, just as she cares about him.

He's her brother, she his sister, though he'd never admit it and she'll probably never mention it either, because Primus help him if he ever has to talk about mushy stuff. But she's grateful to him, for this. For protecting her even though they're safe on base.

Are they though? Safe? With the traitor and all, this may be her home, the Autobots' home, but she's not safe at all. If Coulson's theory is right and it was Anti-Alien who leaked where she goes to school, and now they've broken Ron out of prison, then they're not just targeting the actual aliens they fear and hate. They're targeting her.

They really are interested in her, but the reason why is just out of reach.

"What are they planning?" Ari asks, voice hoarse with tears. "Breaking my…breaking Ron out of prison. What are they thinking?"

"I don't know, sweetspark," Sideswipe whispers, sounding just as lost as she feels.

"They're thinking nothing good, that's what," Sunny practically growls.

Sideswipe sighs tiredly, "Sunstreaker-"

"No." Sunny looks at them over his shoulder, blue optics blazing. "They didn't break him out just to yank her chain. They didn't do it just to scare her. They're going to use him to get to her somehow."

"What, you mean to draw me out?" Ari asks. "Like a hostage or something? Cause if that's what they're thinking, someone didn't do their homework. I'm not risking my life to save him from them or something."

"No, you're right, if they went to the trouble to break him out of prison, then they know how he got there. They know you don't care about him. But there are other ways."

"None of which we know for certain they're gonna do," Sideswipe says, frustrated. "We don't know anything about their plans. All we know is that Ron is out. We don't know where Anti-Alien is based, we don't know where they took Ron, and we don't know what contingencies to plan for. There's no use speculating when we just _don't know_." He looks down at Ari, his faceplates shifting in worry, and he uses his thumb to stroke her hair away from her face. She leans into the touch, knowing Sideswipe is taking comfort as much as giving it. "All we can do is what we've been doing. We make sure you're never alone and you don't leave base until this is over. You stay near us and those we trust. That's all we can do, at least until we know more."

It's weird to see Sideswipe like this, so uncertain, his confidence fractured, but they've all been blindsided by this. They're all worried about what this could mean. Optimus and Will have tightened security, sending out more Autobot patrols. From now on, either Optimus or Elita will always be on base, the two of them never being out at the same time. As sparkmates, Optimus and Elita lead the Autobots together, and this way there will always be one of their leaders close by in case something happens. Also, whenever Optimus is away, he'll still always know what's going on through Elita, and vice versa.

"Has Coulson been by yet?" Ari asks, wondering about the S.H.I.E.L.D. members of their team.

"Yeah," Sideswipe says. "He left about an hour ago. Optimus has been keeping Sunny and me in the loop."

"What did he have to say?"

"That whoever broke that piece of slag out of prison were good. Real good. Professionals, not the amateurs we thought Anti-Alien were."

"It's the same as what it was like when they broke in here," Sunny continues. "Quick in and out, no fuss, and leaving behind their calling card without anyone seeing more than a glimpse. Didn't look like an inside job this time though. They hacked the prison's system remotely, shut down the cameras, got control of the electronic locks for all the doors. That's how they got their people in and out so easily."

"How'd they do that?"

"They used some sort of virus. S.H.I.E.L.D. tried tracing it but got nowhere. Wheeljack took a crack at it and he couldn't come up with anything either. The little bugger deleted itself as soon as the job was done, leaving nothing left to follow."

"Not even Wheeljack could track it?" Ari asks, reluctantly impressed. "You weren't kidding about them not being amateurs. It takes a lot to stump Wheeljack."

"Exactly," Sideswipe says, shifting her higher in his arms. "So we have absolutely no leads except for the fact that they're up to _something._ Their leader, Maxwell, is also in the wind, so we can't try to get any answers from him either. Really, our only hope is that Clint and Natasha find the traitor before Anti-Alien tries something."

"How far along are they?"

"Not very. They've vetted all of the security team and now they're on recruits, but if it's not one of the recruits, then they still have the rest of N.E.S.T. to get through."

Ari sighs deeply, leaning her forehead against Sideswipe's chassis. "So, basically, it could still be a very long time until this is over, Anti-Alien is brought down, and Ron is caught."

Sideswipe shifts her higher again, so that he can touch his lips to the top of her head lightly in a kiss. "Yeah. We've still got a long road ahead of us."

She tilts her face up and kisses him, drawing out the seconds as their emotions transfer to one another and collide. She can feel Sideswipe's fierce need to protect her. Not want, _need._ He needs to keep her safe like he needs energon to function. It's so palpable it takes her breath away. He will do whatever it takes to protect her, and behind all of that need, fueling it, is his love for her. She allows it to surround her, hold her just as Sideswipe physically holds her, while pushing all of her fear towards him so he'll understand just how scared she really is.

She pulls back but just slightly, cupping his cheek with her hand to keep him only inches away. "I'm scared, Sideswipe," she whispers, needing to say it out loud as well. "I think about leaving this room and it terrifies me. But I know I can't just stay in here until all my problems are gone."

"Then don't," Sideswipe says simply. "I would love to hide you away where no one can find you until this is over, but I know that won't make you happy."

She snorts. "You're right. It won't." Standing firm sounds hard right now, but she doesn't want to run, doesn't want to be a delicate princess locked up in a tower.

She doesn't want to let her fear control her like it has so many times before.

He grins slightly, the first real smile any of them have had in a while. "So don't hide away. Face this thing head on and show them how strong you are. You leave this room, you finish your N.E.S.T. training, and you do it all with your head held high."

She's faced Ron before. She's faced him time and time again, let him beat her down over and over, but she always got back up. And in the end, she beat him. She won. She put Ron in jail and she'll do it again if she has to. She'll put Anti-Alien in jail, too. They'll all go down, in time, but she doesn't have to let them bring her down now.

And it's not like she's doing this alone. She has an entire family backing her up. Standing firm doesn't have to be hard, not when she has them holding her up.

She returns Sideswipe's grin. "I'll show them I'm not so breakable. Whatever they're planning, it won't stop me."

"Good," Sunstreaker quips sarcastically. "Awesome. Now that we've reestablished your ability to kick aft can we stop the mush and turn in for the night? It's late and you guys _really_ don't need to be doing things like that in front of me."

Ari leans up for another kiss from Sideswipe just to spite him, eliciting exaggerated gagging from Sunny. Then Sideswipe places her on the side table so she can grab some clothes from the dresser and change in the bathroom. "Who would have thought that a little PDA would get under his skin so much?" she says with a chuckle.

Sideswipe hums happily. "Looks like we have a new way of annoying him."

"Holy Primus, just go recharge already," Sunny groans. "I'll take first watch."

Ari pauses in her rifling through the dresser drawers. "First watch? What do you mean?"

"We're going to take turns keeping watch at night," Sideswipe explains, "just to be safe. The doors have locks but if that traitor is ever determined to get to you, they could still find a way to get in."

A little excessive, yet strangely comforting. "Alright, when do you want me to take my shift?"

"Nope." Sideswipe plucks her from the side table and places her on the floor near the bathroom. "Sunny and I are going to take turns. You are going to sleep."

"What? No! I can help."

"Squishy, it's been a long day," Sunny says, getting up off the floor and moving to his own berth, "and we don't need as much recharge as you do."

"But-"

"Sleep, Squishy. Now."

She sighs exasperatedly. "Fine, fine, I'm going." She slips inside the bathroom and closes the door on Sunny's scowling and Sideswipe's laughter, leaning her back against it. A little smile pulls at her lips. "Love you too, Sunny."

* * *

The next day, Ari gets right back out there. Sure, she's still scared, so scared she has to stop her hands from shaking sometimes, but she's not about to let that fear hold her back. She hasn't for a long time. She's not going to revert and start letting it now. Not even for Ron.

There are some whispers when she arrives for training. The stares raise the little hairs on the back of her neck as she's shooting bullet after bullet, pretending the target is Ron. Her nerves instantly fray a little bit, jumping to conclusions that any of them, all of them, are traitors, watching her, but she shakes her head at herself. Quite a few people saw her breakdown yesterday, saw her run out of the shooting range and collapse in tears on the desert ground. Thanks to the AllSpark and her slightly enhanced hearing, she picks up the gist of it. Some say she's breaking under the stress of the training, that she doesn't have what it takes to be a soldier. Others say Ferrel must have done something, her bullying is common knowledge all throughout the base, and that Ari couldn't handle it anymore.

There's one outrageous rumor that Ari has a crush on Clint, aka Will Brant, and he rejected her, despite her relationship with Sideswipe. He was the only other person in the shooting range with her that day, after all. She openly laughs at that one, not even pretending she isn't eavesdropping, the laughter a bit of a relief. It's just so ridiculous. Even if she did have a crush on Clint, she'd never do anything about it.

Though neither of them have said anything, Natasha totally has a claim on that. And Ari would never move in on the Black Widow's territory. That'd be suicide.

The real reason for her breakdown is being held under wraps, though, as much as possible. Ron's escape isn't even in the news. Natasha and Clint are hoping to use it in their investigation.

Any traitors will end up being the only ones who know Ron is free.

So Ari lets the rumors fly, let's them wash over her and away like droplets of rain, forcing herself to ignore them. She dealt with all kinds of gossip when in high school. This is nothing compared to the kind of talk that was going around when the news of what Ron was doing to her got out.

One by one, she sets about proving the rumors wrong, though, because it doesn't feel right to just let things stand. It's not fair to her. She's at the top of the class, so to speak, in the shooting range that day, fully confident in her ability. She doesn't let Ferrel intimidate her, who is absolutely loving all of the dirty talk, but Ari is never one to be cowed by her and Ferrel gives up trying to get a rise out of her in frustration yet again.

Evie and John are worried, ask her what's wrong, but she just tells them she's fine and focuses on training. She feels bad about being evasive with them but, for the time being, this is how it has to be.

Then, by the end of the day when training is wrapping up, any lingering talk is snuffed out when Natasha arrives, leveling everyone with a cold glare.

"Hey, Nat," Ari says as she puts her gun away in the weapons locker. "What's up?"

"Come with me," she says simply and then turns on her heel, walking towards the door with recruits scurrying to get out of her way.

Ari has to walk quickly in order to keep up. "What's going on?"

"We have to get everything ready for your date with Sideswipe tonight."

"Date?" Ari squeaks in surprise. "What date?"

"The one I said I'd plan for you."

"But," Ari tugs on Natasha's jacket sleeve until she stops, arching a tolerant eyebrow at Ari, "is now really the time for this? I mean, what with everything going on and all. And besides, it's not safe for me to be going anywhere."

Natasha shakes her head, her red curls bouncing. "I don't agree. I think now is precisely the time for you to go on a date, _because_ of everything that's happening." She places a hand on Ari's shoulder, lowering her head to look her in the eye seriously. "You're too stressed right now, Ari, and yesterday only made it worse. You need to relax and remember that you cannot control what is happening. There is nothing you can do to change things. What you need to do is remember to live your life and don't let anything hold you back. To stop living is to allow them to win."

"That's kind of like what Sideswipe told me yesterday," Ari mumbles quietly. "I was so tempted to just hole up in our room when he said that I need to face them, not hide from them."

Natasha smirks. "And now you're out here, still doing your training. That's good. Just keep that up and everything will be fine." She turns on her heal again and sets off at a brisk walk towards the mess hall. "Now come on. We have a lot of work to do to get everything ready."

Ari jogs to catch up again. "But I can't go anywhere."

"You don't have to go anywhere. People have dinner dates at home all the time."

Ari can't really argue with that so she just follows. She's heard of couples having dates at their homes but she's not really sure what all it entails or what prep work needs to be done. What all is Natasha going to have her do? Her mind flashes back to when she first met the agent, when Natasha helped her get ready for her meeting with the World Security Council, and what she thought when Phil said he was eliciting her help.

Is Ari going to regret this or not?

Natasha leads her through the mess hall, the room busy with soldiers and recruits since dinner is in full swing, and flings the double doors open to the kitchen in the back. The kitchen staff is a rotation of soldiers who work tirelessly to feed hundreds of mouths with several combinations of simple meals, mostly meat and potatoes. Most of the time they do a good job but sometimes, the food turns out a bit questionable.

Ari knows to never, _ever,_ get the meatloaf. She found that out the hard way.

It's even busier in the kitchen that it is in the mess hall, men and women in white aprons hustling about in a quick but orderly fashion as they try to keep up with the demand for food. Stoves are boiling, skillets sizzling, and the heat of all of the appliances and bodies makes the room sweltering almost worse than the desert. Dozens of people are talking at once, the noise almost a roar, as they call out orders and demands while they cook. Natasha just keeps on going, navigating the throng of people expertly, and Ari sticks close behind her, wondering if Natasha was an undercover cook at one point.

They finally stop once they reach the back corner of the kitchen, an area with it's own stove and sink that's mostly out of the way of the main throng. Leaning against the stainless steel counter is Clint, his suit jacket nowhere in sight, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and an apron hanging from his neck and tied around his waist, looking completely at ease.

Maybe _he_ was an undercover cook at one point?

"Alright," Clint says with slight excitement, pushing off of the counter. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Excuse me?" Ari asks, looking from one agent to the other in confusion.

"Like I said," Natasha supplies, "you're going on a dinner date. Clint is going to help you cook the food while I set up the location."

"But Sideswipe doesn't eat human food."

"Normally he doesn't, but he still can. And from what I hear he rather enjoys it, am I wrong?"

Ari tilts her head to the side, thinking, and then nods in agreement. Yeah, Sideswipe does like human food. He's always trying to steal hers if she has food and he's around in his holoform. "Okay, you have a point."

"Of course," Natasha says with a small smile, a smile that knows more than it ever says. She then begins to slink her way back through the cooks, calling over her shoulder, "You two have fun."

"Alright," Clint says with a clap of his hands, eyes narrowing at her critically. "Now, I know you're enhanced, but do you need a truckload of food like Cap?"

"Cap?"

"Captain America. Because of his enhancements, you know, the super strength and speed and stuff, his metabolism is a lot faster than it used to be, meaning he burns through a lot more food a lot faster than he used to, too. So. Are you like that?"

"No," she says, showing him her arm and the AllSpark marks. "These aren't just for show. There's circuitry underneath the skin that helps regulate my body and its needs, so I eat normally."

"Awesome. So we don't have to multiply recipe portions by five."

"Does Captain Rogers really eat that much?"

"Yep. We went to go get shawarma after the Battle of New York as kind of a victory meal, and I swear between him and Thor the place was almost out of food by the time we left."

"Yeesh. I'm glad I didn't end up like that." She looks over the counter, not seeing a recipe book or any food or supplies out yet. "So what are we cooking?"

"That's up to you. What would you like to eat? Remember, this is just as much for you as it is for Sideswipe, probably more so since he won't actually be eating all that much."

"I don't know," Ari says uncertainly. "What do people normally cook for dates?"

"Depends. Could be something really fancy, especially if wine is involved. The kind of wine determines the kind of food since not all wine goes good with all food. Do you want wine? Nat can get it if you want it."

"No," she says firmly. "No wine."

Definitely no alcohol. Not for her. Not ever.

The corner of Clint's mouth tips up and she sees understanding there. "Alright, then it can be just about anything. You can do his favorite food, try something new you think he'll like, something that brings a certain memory to mind..."

She bites her lip, trying to think of all of the different foods Sideswipe has tried and realizes it's quite a lot. He also rarely eats something he doesn't end up liking.

Unless it's mustard. He thinks mustard comes from the Pit itself.

There is one kind of food that brings a certain memory to mind, though. It always does when she eats it. And having breakfast for dinner is almost better than normal dinner.

"Do we have the makings for waffles?" she asks hopefully.

Clint's eyes tilt up to the ceiling as if he's running through a mental list of the kitchen's contents, though how he could have all of that memorized she has no idea. After a moment he nods though. "Yeah, we do." He then reaches into a bottom cupboard and pulls out a waffle iron with a smirk, knowing exactly where it is without any hesitation. "Come on, kid, let's get cooking."

He tosses her an apron and she stares at him, unamused. It's bright pink. "Really?"

He shrugs unapologetically. "What? You need to stay clean, even though Nat is probably going to put you through the works getting you ready."

She freezes in putting on the apron, staring at him through the sweep for her head. "What do you mean, 'put me through the works'?"

 _Is_ she going to regret this?

Clint just grins. "You'll see."

That's not comforting at all, but she yanks the apron on anyway and sets to work, helping Clint gather ingredients from the cupboards and fridge.

Ignoring what's worrying her, she's good at that.

Under Clint's careful instruction, with him having a recipe for waffles completely mesmerized apparently, Ari makes waffles from scratch all by herself, Clint claiming it to be more special if it's mostly her who actually makes it.

Who would have thought Clint would be a closet romantic?

Suppressing a chuckle, she focuses on the task. Cooking isn't new to her, at least, it isn't anymore. Back when she was still with Ron, she'd have microwavable meals. Now, Sarah's shown her a few things, so she isn't too terrible at it and she takes instruction well, Clint only needing to step in to adjust her stirring technique.

When the batter is finished, Clint wraps the bowl up in saran wrap and sticks it in the fridge, saying that he'll cook them on the waffle iron while she gets ready for the date. They move on to cutting up strawberries and bananas for toppings instead, Ari taking bananas and Clint strawberries. Clint's fingers are deft with the knife, like it's an extension of his hand that he doesn't have to even think about. He may work mostly with a bow, but by the skillful ease he uses to cut fruit slices, he could probably think of ten different ways to kill a person with a thumbtack, let alone a knife.

He's on his third strawberry when he asks, "So how are you doing after, you know, yesterday."

She grimaces, focusing on finishing her banana before answering, "I'm…managing. Keep looking over my shoulder, but managing."

"You don't have to worry about that, kid. We'll protect you. Nat and I have already talked about it and we decided to split our time between the investigation and guarding you. At all times, one or both of us will be watching over you, though you may not always see us. No matter what, our priority is keeping you safe."

Ari chuckles softly to herself, wondering if that's why she felt like there were eyes on her all day. She has her own personal shadows which...isn't as creepy as she thought it would be. Her shoulders sag a little in relief. "Thanks. That's...That actually helps a lot."

His hand lands solidly on her shoulder, squeezing, and she looks up at him. His smile isn't playful like it usually is, this time it's sincere. "Don't worry, kid. We've got your back."

They lapse into companionable silence then, quietly slicing fruit, and without her really noticing it, all the rest of her tension that's been digging into her shoulders all day finally releases. Every time one of the other cooks come too close to their end of the kitchen Clint shifts his stance minutely so he can keep an eye on whoever it is until they wander off again. His eyes never miss a detail, always sweeping for potential threats, and it's comforting.

It makes the danger seem less...scary, but will that end up coming back to bite her in the aft?

Will she regret this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, didn't get to the date yet and yet I kind of did? But, hey, at least you still got some fluff! And there's more to come! Plus, Will comes back next chapter. Some of you were wondering where he got to and I explain it next chap.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	53. Light in the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that I want to finish posting this by the end of the month since Camp NaNoWriMo is next month so from now on you'll be getting two chapters a day.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Either she was watching them the entire time or Clint texted her without Ari noticing, but as soon as Ari and Clint are done preparing all the food for the dinner date, including cleaning up their mess, Natasha appears to commandeer Ari once again. Clint promises he'll cook the waffles so they're nice and fresh for the date and then Ari allows herself to get dragged off by Natasha in order to "get ready".

Again, is she going to regret this?

Natasha leads her to her room where they find two people waiting for them: Elita-One, greeting them with a soft smile, and at her feet stands Will.

"Dad!" Ari calls out, breaking into a run. He holds his arms out to her and she propels herself into his hug, both of them holding on tightly. Her face buried in his chest, she can smell the sweat, grime, and gunpowder clinging to his days-old uniform. He's fresh from a mission, not even bothering to stop at his room to wash and change before coming to see her.

She's eternally grateful. She's needed her dad. Her _real_ dad.

"How you holding up, kiddo?" Will asks quietly, not letting go.

"Not that great but not really bad either," she says truthfully. "I'm better now that you're back."

His hold tightens. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when it happened."

Will, Rob, Optimus, Mirage, the triplets, Jolt, and a dozen other soldiers had been away on mission when everything happened. Decepticon activity has been high lately, one or two Cons popping up at a time all over the world. It's been frustrating. Every time N.E.S.T. arrives on scene they catch just a glimpse, just a blip on the energon scanners, and then nothing. It's like a giant, wild goose chase, but it's not like they can just not go. The one time they don't will end up being the time the Decepticons decide to stick around to wreak havoc.

It's worrisome that they're doing this. Either they're planning something bigger that they just can't figure out or there are just that many Cons arriving on Earth, fleeing before the Autobots catch them. Ari can't decide which scenario is better.

"It's okay, Dad," she says, arms squeezing reassuringly around his middle. "It's not your fault. What matters is that you're here now."

He kisses the top of her head and then pulls back. "So, Elita tells me you're going on a date tonight?"

She blushes slightly but nods. "Yeah. Sides and I are just staying in. Clint helped me cook dinner and…well, I don't really know what all Nat has planned."

"A lot," Natasha says, eyes turning up to Elita. "Were you able to get what I asked for?"

"Yes, it's right here," Elita says, patting her thigh where her trunk space must be. "And I must say, they are all excellent choices. I have not been on Earth long, but I can tell everything is in very fine taste."

Natasha smirks slyly. "Thank you."

"What are you talking about?" Ari asks cautiously. Just when did Natasha and Elita become friends? And they're conspiring about something. That can't be a good thing, and Ari is pretty sure she's in the middle of it.

Natasha's smile only grows. "You will see. Now come on. We have work to do."

Natasha grabs Ari's shoulders from behind and starts pushing her into the room, Elita following them inside. Ari looks back at Will a little helplessly and he's just grinning and waving at her. "Good luck," he says, and then Elita is shutting the door on him.

"So," Ari says, feeling increasingly nervous, especially when Natasha pushes her into the bathroom and makes her sit down on the closed toilet seat. "What did you have Elita get you?"

Elita's holoform blinks into the room next to them so suddenly, Liv would have yelped if she wasn't so used to it already. "You'll see"

This is the first time Ari's seen Elita's holoform and she has the type of beauty that's ageless. She was the girl who turned heads when she was younger, but can still just as easily do so now and will continue to do so years down the line. She's all gracefully long limbs with an athletic build hidden underneath her softness and her golden hair perfectly falls down her back with a couple of stripes of hot pink.

She's a good match for Optimus, because even though she's beautiful, she still holds herself with a lot of power.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Elita asks, looking over the contents Natasha is taking out of a small black bag Ari didn't notice she was carrying and lining the counter with.

Natasha holds up a tube of eyeliner. "How good are you with makeup?"

Elita's eyes dim as she looks something up and that gets Ari worried. "I think I can handle it."

"Elita, please don't believe everything you see on the internet," Ari pleads, trying to hide her worry. "Just because someone decides to try something, that doesn't mean everyone is going to like it."

Elita smiles confidently. "Don't worry, Ari. You will like this."

Please don't let her do anything too outrageous. Please.

Ari has no choice but to sit still and endure the treatments of Elita and Natasha, Elita in front of her applying makeup to her face and Natasha behind her wrangling her hair. Neither of them will let her look into the mirror until they're finished.

And when they are, the person in the mirror takes her breath away.

It almost doesn't look like her, though not to an extent that makes her uncomfortable. Ari has always looked a bit younger than she really is, but Elita has somehow managed to make her actually look her age for once. Her eyes are smoky, her lips full and plump with a dark shade of red, and Ari can almost believe that she'll be turning heads when she's sixty as well. Natasha has manipulated her soft waves to actually do something very nice for once. Normally Ari has to struggle to get her hair to do what she wants but she's never managed anything like this. Her hair is piled high on her head with strands falling elegantly around her face to barely brush her shoulders.

Never in a million years did she ever think she could look so beautiful.

"Thank you," she whispers softly, unable to take her eyes away.

"It is our pleasure, Ari," Elita says sincerely. "And it is little compared to all I have to repay you for."

Ari meets Elita's eyes in the mirror, brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Ari, you saved my sparkmate's life." Elita's eyes go vacant, haunted, as she sees and feels something Ari can't even possibly imagine. "I was still very far away from this planet, but I could feel it when Optimus offlined. It felt like I was being torn to pieces. Wheeljack had to put me in emergency stasis lock in order to save my life, but even that should not have been enough. Still, though, I continued to live, despite half my spark being ripped away to rejoin the Well of Sparks. Something kept me going, as if a part of me knew he would not be lost forever. And it is because of you that he was able to come back online."

A lump forms in Ari's throat and she quickly turns, wrapping her arms around Elita. "Oh, Elita, you don't have to thank me for that. Never. We were all lost without him, including me. He's family, and all I could think about after we lost him was trying to find a way to bring him back." She pulls back, squeezing Elita's shoulders gently. "I'd do the same for you, too. Any of you. You're all my family and I will do whatever it takes to protect you."

Elita smiles softly. "Thank you. It is nice to be a part of a family again after everything we have lost."

Ari makes a note to herself, one that will pulse throughout her doors for as long as it takes: when this war is over and the time comes, when the Primes finally say she can use the AllSpark to create new sparklings, Elita is going first. She would make an awesome parental unit, Optimus as well.

"Come on, ladies," Natasha says, pushing them out the door. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Ari digs in her heels, looking back at her over her shoulder. "You're part of my family, too, you know."

Natasha pauses, her mask portraying only blankness but the pause is telling enough. "You sure you want someone like me in your family?"

"I am."

She stares at Ari, searching for something, and Ari stares right back, determined not to back down from the eyes of a woman who's capable of staring down murderous psychopaths and aliens who consider themselves gods. Whatever she's looking for, she must find it. She doesn't say anything, just gives a curt nod, but Ari smiles all the same and allows herself to be pushed forward again.

Ari and Natasha climb up to the side table, Elita simply blinking out her holoform and blinking it back on up there to join them. Laid out on the bed are the things Natasha must have had Elita get and Ari hesitantly steps closer to get a better look. There are several dresses, pairs of shoes, and….

"Natasha, why is there lingerie?" Ari asks, mouth suddenly as dry as the desert outside. There is no fragging way she is wearing…any of that.

"Every successful outfit starts from the inside out," Natasha says, cocking her hip and crossing her arms like she's explaining how to perform a take-down move. "In order to determine how you want the date to start, you have to decide how you want the date to end and the best way in order to achieve that end result. So, Ari, how do you want the night to end?"

Ari shakes her head, backing a few steps away. "N-Not like anything you're thinking." Natasha arches a brow, silently urging her to clarify. "Sideswipe and I have had this conversation before. I…After everything that happened…I don't think I can ever be that intimate with anyone."

"Are you sure about that?" Natasha asks, sounding almost challenging. "Is that what you really want? Or are you allowing your fear to force you into a corner?"

Ari opens her mouth to bite something out but the words get caught on her tongue. Because she doesn't know. The amount of panic that would lead to, it seems so insurmountable to her, but so did being able to hug someone. But she can do that now. She's overcome a lot, so would it really be impossible to overcome this?

"What do you really want, Ari?" Natasha asks gently. "Don't think of everything you've been through and everything he's done to you. Think only of what _you_ want; of what you wanted before it happened."

That seems like such a long time ago now. Still, even back then, before she ever met Sideswipe, getting away from her father seemed like such an impossible thing.

But she did have hopes and dreams.

"I think," she licks her lips nervously, not really looking at any of them but at a younger version of herself. "I wanted to save myself for marriage and be a one-time-down-the-aisle kind of girl. Something like that…I only wanted to give it to the person I knew I would be spending the rest of my life with."

"And you can't still do that?"

"I don't know," she says honestly. "It's not like Sideswipe and I can get married but I can't imagine being with anyone else. I don't _want_ anyone else. Even us being together now, it doesn't feel like we just started after the Battle of Egypt but that we've always been this and admitting our feelings was a natural progression that didn't actually change anything because it was always there. But all of that aside…I'm not sure I could do it without the panic consuming me, even if I wanted to."

"Don't tap out just yet," Natasha says, green eyes swirling with understanding and no trace of the pity Ari would have expected to see there. "If I've learned anything about you, it's that you have a knack of overcoming unbeatable odds. If you want it to happen, you'll figure it out."

"In the meantime," Elita says, gathering up the undergarments and packing them away in one of Ari's dresser drawers, "we set these aside for now and you think about it. Just don't dismiss it simply because you are scared, alright?"

Ari nods stiffly, glad she doesn't have to decide right away, tonight, but certainly having a lot to think about now.

Natasha has Ari try on several dresses after that, working with the goal in mind that Ari doesn't want this going anywhere beyond a bit of kissing. Okay, maybe a lot of kissing, but even that isn't very far compared to all the things the spy has probably done. But Natasha seems to know what she's looking for and by the time she finds it Ari is wondering just what it is that's going through Natasha's head.

But when Natasha's lips pull up into a satisfied smirk and she pulls her into the bathroom to get a look at herself in the mirror, Ari can help but let out a little "Oh" of understanding.

It's an old style swing dress with a full, flowing skirt, cap sleeves, and a sweetheart neckline. It's a deep burgundy color that matches the shade on her lips with black accents and the whole thing sets off reddish highlights in her hair. It's the conservative style of the forties while still being alluring and Ari absolutely loves it.

Okay, regretting this a little less now.

Natasha sifts through the shoes until she comes up with a pair of black kitten heels, just enough heel to give the shoe elegance but not enough to where Ari trips over herself, at least not right away, so she just goes with it. Besides, they complement the dress beautifully. She can put up with wearing heels for a little while.

"Oh, yeah," Natasha says in satisfaction as she double checks Ari's hair and makeup. "I'd take a picture so Steve could see you but Sideswipe would probably run me over if I did that."

"Who's Steve?" Ari asks as she spins in a circle at Elita's urging, the full skirt flowing out around her.

"Steve Rogers. If he saw you it would be a blast from the past."

Ari abruptly stops mid-spin at the name. Captain America, one of the Avengers. He basically grew up in the time period this style of dress originates from. And Natasha knows him, well enough to call him Steve. "I forget that you're an Avenger sometimes."

Natasha's mouth quirks up playfully. "I suppose that's a good thing. I am a spy, after all. But if you want, if you're ever in New York, I can introduce you."

She could meet Captain America, a national icon, a part of history, one of the heroes from the Battle of New York. It just sounds so surreal to meet someone so famous, though, technically, Ari is also famous now, as are the Autobots. "That would be neat. Then I'd be halfway to knowing all the Avengers."

"I'd offer to introduce you to Stark but he can be, what do you say? He can be a bit of an aft."

Ari snorts. "Phil says the same thing. That's okay. I'd be happy with just Captain Rogers. I wrote a paper on him in one of my classes recently."

"I'm sure he'd like that," Natasha says with a chuckle, pinning a loose curl back in place and then stepping back. "There. Done. You ready for this?"

Ari runs a hand over her skirt, feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden. "Yeah, I think so. Where are we doing this?"

Natasha pulls a length of cloth from out of nowhere. A blindfold. "Trust me?"

"Of course," Ari answers immediately, which earns her a small, sincere smile. Natasha steps behind her, securing the blindfold around her eyes so that everything is plunged into darkness. Her body instinctively tenses at losing her most heavily relied upon sense, but when she feels Natasha's hands on her shoulders she eases. Natasha will take care of her. There's nothing to be afraid of with the Black Widow beside her.

"Alright, Ari," Elita says, her voice sounding farther away meaning she probably transformed back into her bipedal mode. "I'm going to pick you up now."

Ari nods and feels metal servos carefully wrap around her, lifting her up to sit on a palm. She brings her legs up and tucks them in against her, mindful of the dress and making sure she doesn't lose her shoes. Then there's the gentle rocking of Elita walking from the room and down the hall. Ari tries to keep track of where they are, is pretty sure they move through the main hanger and then outside, but after that she's unsure. They keep walking for a while but it doesn't sound like they move into another building. She can hear shouted orders and stomping boots of soldiers working outside on the tarmac, but they gradually begin to fade.

Where are they going?

A few minutes later, Elita finally stops, setting her down on the ground again. She's unsteady on her legs but quickly finds her balance, turning her head left and right to try and pick up a scent or a sound. A presence moves in behind her and she flinches before realizing it's a presence she recognizes. A hand touches her face, fingers trailing down from her brow to her jaw, and she grins.

"Sideswipe?" she asks, though she knows it's him. Instead of answering, his hands move to her blindfold and undo the knot at the back of her head so the cloth falls away.

She blinks her eyes open and gasps.

It's dark out by now, the last few rays of sunlight slipping below the horizon in the distance. The base lights are coming on, one by one, but they're far from the base now, out in the desert. The sky above them is slightly cloudy, obscuring the stars, but she doesn't need their light in order to see. There are candles along the ground, forming a circle around a small table and two chairs with another, single candle sitting atop it next to a vase with a rose and a plate stacked high with waffles topped with strawberries and chocolate syrup.

"I don't know what I was expecting when I heard Clint and Natasha were doing this," Sideswipe says, coming to stand next to her. "But it certainly wasn't this."

Ari gets her first good look at Sideswipe's holoform and she has to suppress another gasp. His dark hair is wavy and free, just like it always is, but instead of his usual jeans and a t-shirt he's wearing a pair of black slacks, white dress shirt with the top few buttons open, and a formfitting dinner jacket buttoned in the middle.

She loves the real him but she has to admit, his holoform looks _good_.

"You look good," she says a little breathlessly.

The way his eyes sweep over her, long and lingering, makes her lungs empty entirely.

"You look… _beautiful_ ," he says, almost worshipful, and it brings a blush to her cheeks. She's often wondered what he sees in her when he says things like that. She's an entirely different species, after all, made of skin instead of metal.

But still he calls her beautiful.

She steps close to him and lifts her lips to his, a bit easier to do with the heels but she still has to lift herself up on her toes a little. Sideswipe's arms snake around her waist as they sink into the kiss, holding her close as if he's trying to hold her there forever, but after a moment he pulls back.

"Come on," he says, taking her hand and leading her to a break in the circle of candles. He holds a chair out for her and she sits, Sideswipe pushing her in before moving to take his own seat. "So, I heard you made our dinner?"

Ari picks up one of the forks on the plate, Sideswipe picking up the other one, but she doesn't start eating yet. "Well, Clint did most of the work. I just helped, so if it tastes horrible you can blame him."

Sideswipe chuckles and cuts into the waffle with the side of his fork, dipping the piece in the strawberry and chocolate sauce before putting the big bite in his mouth and chewing slowly.

"So?" Ari asks, watching his face for signs of whether or not he likes it.

"Mmmm," he hums happily. "Tastes just as good as I remember."

"You remember that?"

"Course I do. It was our first date."

She groans, hanging her head. She remembers Sideswipe taking her out to breakfast and a movie on her first actual birthday. They got waffles and their waitress told them to have fun on their date. Ari was so embarrassed, made even worse when Sideswipe agreed it was a date. "You do know that it wasn't a real date, right?"

"Yeah it was," he insists with a grin.

She shakes her head, fighting a smile and failing as she recalls what he said. "Right. We were two friends who liked each other hanging out, and that constitutes as a date."

"Well, yeah." He reaches across the table and takes her hand, looking her in the eye, completely serious now. "But I meant it in the real way, too."

Ari goes still, her chest squeezing tightly. "Even then?"

He smiles, soft and sincere, and lifts her hand up to place a kiss on her knuckles. "Yeah, even then."

She squeezes his hand tight, smiling brightly, and neither of them let go as they eat their waffles.

Yeah, she thought so too, even then. That's why she chose waffles for this date.

The waffles really are delicious, Ari and Clint did good, and they talk about little things as they gradually clear the plate. It feels like they're hanging out like normal, like it really isn't all that different from that first date, or even from that first night when he introduced himself through the car radio and they stayed up all night, her sitting in his alt mode, just talking. There's always been love between them, saying they're dating is just a label.

She can feel the clouds closing in on them and the scent of rain sits heavy in the air. But neither of them care. As soon as they set their forks down Sideswipe asks, "Care for a dance?"

"But there's no music," she says with a laugh but takes his outstretched hand anyway, allowing him to pull her to her feet and into his arms, his hands settling at her waist and hers on his shoulders. There's a soft click behind her and she looks over her shoulder to see Sideswipe's alt mode, his doors opening and soft music begins to spill out of the speakers. She laughs again, stepping closer to him and surrendering herself to his lead, more swaying than actual dancing, but it doesn't really matter because they're together, have always been together even when they didn't know it, and that's all either of them have ever needed. It sounds crazy and impossible and too good to be true, but she hasn't woken from this dream yet and doesn't see it happening anytime soon.

"Hey, Sideswipe?" she says as one song drifts into another.

"Yeah, Ari?"

"Do you…do you really mean what you said before?"

He pulls back a little to look at her properly. "What, that I loved you even back then?"

She nods mutely, hoping he can't see her blush in the candlelight.

"Yeah, I think I have. I may not have known it, but I think I've always loved you, since the moment I met you."

"Because your spark calls out to me?" she asks. He's said before that he thinks they could be sparkmates, that all the signs are there and that Primus may just have a few tricks up his sleeve and a couple of twists to their destinies. She's always thought it a nice thought but isn't sure if she believes it. It's just…impossible.

But, then again, practically everything about her is impossible.

"Not just that," Sideswipe says, lifting a hand to curl a strand of her hair around his finger. "Before Sunny and I came to Earth, there was only the war. Sure, we had each other, but every day was only about survival, about watching each other's backs and fighting to keep the other alive. That's why we're pranksters. It's just a bit of…light in all of the darkness, to remind everyone, but especially ourselves, what it is we're fighting for." His hand moves from her hair to her face, cupping her cheek. "But then I met you and you are so much more than a bit of light. You're a star, a super nova, lighting up everything around you until none of the darkness is left. You were almost swallowed up in your own darkness but you kept fighting and fighting, always getting back up when you were pushed down, until you won and it made me think…it gives me hope that we'll win one day too. And for the first time, I started to think about what I want to do with my life once the war is over."

She tilts her head curiously, leaning into his touch. "And what do you want to do?"

"I want you," he says with a soft smile. "I've always wanted you. You are my hope and my light and I wanted as much of you as you were willing to give me for as long as possible, never even imagining we'd end up where we are now. You give me a new reason to live, a new reason to fight. I love you, Ari, and there isn't anyone or anything else I could ever possibly want so long as I have you."

Ari's lips lift up in a wobbly smile and tears sting at her eyes, but she manages to get the words out she _needs_ to say, "I love you too. I couldn't have done…anything if I didn't have you. You're the reason I was able to go against Ron, the reason I made it through Mission City and Egypt and Judy and the reason why I can still keep on going. Without you, I would have been so lost, the darkness would have swallowed me whole. You're as much my light as I am yours. It was hard to imagine a future for myself back then but now the only one I can see is one with you by my side."

They stopped dancing a while ago so Ari doesn't hesitate to reach up and pull his head down for a long, slow kiss. Sideswipe eagerly gathers her closer in his arms and this, right here, is what they've always been moving towards since the very beginning. Maybe it was Primus or Fate or whatever, but this was always it for them, each other, sparkmates or not.

The first drop of water to fall on Ari's head goes completely ignored, it doesn't even really register, but it's the only warning they have before there's a low rumble in the distance and the sky opens up to rain buckets down on them, a rare desert storm. The water is icy cold and drenches them in seconds but Ari can't help but let out screeching laughter. The candles are snuffed out too so Sideswipe turns on his headlights to illuminate the sudden darkness.

They think about going inside for one second but then decide to say frag it, neither of them can get sick from this anyway, and continue to dance in the rain.

* * *

Natasha has a very stern look on her face by the time they finally make it back into the main hanger, Clint standing next to her with a smug smile and hands stuffed casually in his pockets. The rain is still coming down hard outside and Ari slips out of Sideswipe's alt mode. He transforms behind her and kneels down, the two of them exchanging looks before flashing Natasha matching unapologetic grins.

Natasha mumbles something in Russian Ari doesn't quite catch, shaking her head. "Go get changed and then give me back the dress. If it does not dry properly the material could shrink and then you'd never be able to wear it again."

Ari frowns down at her dress, the dark material dripping water on the concrete. "I do love this dress. That would be awful if it got ruined." Then Natasha's words register and Ari's head snaps up. "Wait, I get to keep it?"

"Of course you do. What am I going to do with it? It wouldn't fit me properly and it definitely looks a lot better on you."

"That it does," Sideswipe agrees with a grin and both girls roll their eyes at him.

Sideswipe and Ari head back to their room, Natasha following behind them to make sure she gets that dress back as soon as possible and Clint following behind her just along for the ride. It's late and there are few people milling about around base so the trip is short and silent.

But when they reach the room the door is cracked open.

Ari stills on Sideswipe's shoulder and she can feel him tense as well. This door shouldn't be open. Glancing down, she can see Natasha and Clint going on alert too, both of them pulling out their sidearms. Sideswipe nudges the door open, hands clenched in fists, ready to pull out his blades if necessary.

Ari hopes that maybe Sunstreaker is inside and just didn't close the door all the way but that hope dies as soon as they step inside.

Someone, the traitor, has spray painted the Anti-Alien logo on the floor, big, bold, and gleaming red. There's a piece of paper laying atop it and Natasha approaches it cautiously as Clint scouts out the room, making sure the intruder isn't still here. He comes back out of the bathroom, nodding his head that everything looks clear, just as Natasha picks up the paper and her eyes scan over it.

Ari sees her jaw clench even from where she sits and her stomach drops.

"It's a photo of the two of you together," Natasha informs them, voice stoic but with a dangerous, furious edge to it, "taken today, during your date." She flips the picture over, her jaw clenching even harder. "They left a note."

"What's it say?" Ari asks numbly, almost too afraid to ask but needing to know why, why all of this?

"'How can you betray your own kind?'" Natasha reads. "'How can you love something that isn't even human? Then again, you're not even human yourself anymore, are you.'"

Statement, not a question. Ari can hear it in the words and it confirms her worst fear.

Anti-Alien knows she's the AllSpark. It's one of the reasons they're so focused on her. And they plan on using it against her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm a really bad person for leaving you with a cliffy like that but I couldn't help it! It was all part of the plan!
> 
> Next chapter, things get even more intense with Anti-Alien.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	54. Escalation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm horrible for missing the past two days for updates. Life got kind of busy. But I'll make it up to you by giving you all four chapters you were supposed to get the past two days plus the two you're supposed to get today. So hold on to your seats, you've got six chapters on the way.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari stares down the range at the target, sniper rifle in hand. The day is hot even though it's still only morning, the sun beating down overhead to coat the back of her shirt in sweat, but the metal overhang of the outside gun range provides at least a bit of relief from the heat. She stretches herself out on the ground, positioning herself and the rifle with practiced movements, movements that have long since become instinct by now.

Putting her eye to the scope, Ari steadies her breathing and concentrates.

This is something Clint taught her, how to empty her mind and force her body to relax as a way to destress. He does it all the time, usually with his bow. He's been teaching her how to use one, too, but she still finds that she prefer a sniper rifle. There's just something about the feel of it in her hands and the way her body is laid out on the ground in an almost relaxed position that she finds comforting.

She focuses on the target several meters away, only a small circle even through the high-powered scope. She takes her time, feels the wind, counts her breaths, and between one and the next she fires, the bang echoing loudly across the flat Nevada desert. She fires several more times, only minutely adjusting her aim, until the clip is empty.

There's a lot that she doesn't want to think about right now. Like how Anti-Alien spied on her during her date with Sideswipe. Them knowing she's the AllSpark. Knowing that the traitor behind it all is still out there somewhere, over a week now past since they left that note for her to find. It's hard to feel safe here anymore. Sides and Sunny are taking turns keeping watch at night, along with their normal patrols, and it's gotten to a point where they're exhausted all the time. They can't get enough recharge, even for them, and though they insist Ari doesn't take a shift she's still not getting a whole lot of sleep either. Security around the base has quadrupled and there's at least two N.E.S.T. soldiers watching her back from afar who are on a rotation so that, even if one of them is the traitor, they're not watching her for long and they're never alone because of their partner. Even with that, though, it's not like the traitor could do anything anyway because she has a third bodyguard. She never sees them, but she can always feel their eyes on her. At any given time at least one of them, Clint or Natasha, are watching over Ari as well, just like they said they would

It still doesn't feel like enough though. The investigation is still underway, almost done with the recruits, but then if nothing is found, there is still the rest of N.E.S.T. to go through. It could still be several more weeks, maybe even months, until she'll know peace again.

Which is why she finds it whenever she can, however she can, even if it's a gun in her hands despite the gun portion of the recruit training being over with already.

She stands, dusting the dry, sandy dirt from the khakis of her recruit uniform, and then makes the long walk out to her target. She looks it over, eyes squinting from the bright sunlight. Shouldering the gun, she runs a hand over the holes, feeling the depressions with her fingertips. They're set in a perfect line from the left side of the target to the right, a lot like how Clint showed off with his bow the first time she saw it. She smirks to herself. She didn't really need the extra training but she's gotten all the better for it.

But gun training is over, the training program now halfway done. Now, they start with teamwork, first with each other, and then with the Autobots. This will be the most important part of their training but it's the part that Ari is dreading most, because of Trent and Ferrel. She highly doubts either one of them are very good at teamwork so they are going to make this a lot harder than it has to be.

Gathering her target, she heads back to the weapons locker in the gym to put away her stuff, her shadows following behind. Recruits are already trickling out of the locker room to gather in the main Autobot hanger and she quickens her steps so she's not late, stepping into line just as Welles takes his place in front of the group.

"Alright, listen up," he says, voice drill sergeant loud. "Today we are shifting in discipline from weapons to teamwork. Behind the outdoor gun range is a training facility dedicated to running real life combat scenarios, both for humans and for Autobots, but working with the Autobots won't come for another two weeks. Right now, it is all about learning to work together. We have several different combat scenarios but first we will start with capture the flag.

"You will be divided into two teams, red and blue. The rules are simple: each team will hide their flag and when the whistle goes off you will try to capture the enemy's flag. The first team to have the flag _in hand_ will be declared the winner. Now, I will name your team captains and then tell each of you which team you are on." He leafs through the ever-present clipboard in his hands, scanning the page. "Your captains are Lennox for the red team and DeMarco for the blue."

"What?" Ferrel calls out, unable to suppress her anger and frustration. "Why does Lennox of all people get to be team captain?"

Welles narrows his eyes at her but doesn't reprimand her for the outburst, reminding Ari of teachers playing favorites. "Captains were chosen based on the combined scores from combat and weapons training. Lennox and DeMarco had the highest marks."

"Seriously? How does that make her a captain? So what if she has a few good skills, that doesn't mean she has what it takes to be a leader."

Ari's teeth grind together, holding in her retort. Like Ferrel would be any better at being captain. She doesn't lead, she bosses around. But she's tired, too tired to deal with Ferrel and her prissy attitude. And she may still have a point anyway.

"It's alright, sir," Ari says, rather reluctantly. "It's true, I've done well so far but I've still never undergone the same basic training as everyone else. I should learn to fight beside them before I even think about leading them. Let the person with the next highest score be captain."

"Very well, Lennox," Sergeant Welles readily agrees. "That means you're up, Ferrel."

Ferrel grins triumphantly, visibly holding in her excitement.

Ari internally cringes. Yeah, this is going to go well. She hopes she doesn't regret this but this is better than putting up with Ferrel's attitude.

Welles divides up the rest of the recruits, thankfully having the forethought not to but Ari and Ferrel on the same team. Instead, Ari ends up on Trent's team, the blue team, which she considers to be the better of two evils.

Besides, when their team beats Ferrel, the look on her face will be completely priceless.

They're just about to move out to the training facility when a radio squawks nearby. Ari looks over her shoulder at Lando, one of her current bodyguards standing near the back of the group of recruits. He has his radio held up so both him and his partner, Bryant, can hear what's being said. She strains her ears but is still too far away to hear more than jumbled words so she focuses on the men themselves. Lando remains completely calm but Bryant is one of the newer soldiers, just from the last batch of recruits before the one Ari joined. He has yet to develop his game face so right now everything he is thinking and feeling is bleeding out. Right now, he is tense, his frown digging deep furrows around his mouth.

Something is wrong, very wrong.

The recruits are falling into line around her, beginning to move out in rows, but she doesn't move with her row. She watches Lando as he says something into the radio and then meets Ari's eyes expectantly. Her chest constricts with dread.

She's only taken one step out of ranks when Welles snaps at her, "Lennox! Where do you think you're going?"

"Lennox is excused from training for the rest of the day, Sergeant Welles," Lando says, him and Bryant flanking her.

"Lennox can't just be excused whenever you feel like it," Welles spits out.

"This is an emergency. The plane the team was on is touching down in five minutes and she needs to be there when it does."

The plane? A team of Autobots and soldiers went on another mission, Decepticons had been spotted in Kansas, but why do they need her?

"Tell me what's going on," she demands, looking from Lando to Bryant. "What am I walking into?"

Lando places a comforting hand on her shoulder but it's not comforting, not at all, it destroys her calm just a little bit more.

"It's Moonracer," he says. "She's been hurt really bad. Ratchet says he needs your help."

Ari doesn't think after that, just runs, out of the hanger, onto the tarmac with her head tilted up to the sky. She can hear the warbled rumble of the plane and there, she spots it maybe only a minute out now, steadily lowering to come down to land, and her eyes never leave it. Finally, it hits the tarmac, wheels squeaking, and taxis to a stop.

The cargo doors lower and she sprints to the first person she sees, who turns out to be Rob.

"What happened?" she asks, trying to get a look at Moonracer who is probably somewhere in the back with the rest of the Autobots in their alt modes. Everyone except Ratchet that is. He's in his bipedal mode, hunched over in the small space of the cargo plane, with his optics focused on something at his feet.

"It was supposed to be a routine op," Rob says, looking more tired than she's seen him in a long time, almost as tired as after Mission City and Egypt. It's the look of a man who's seen far more than he ever wanted to. "Energon scanners picked up two Decepticons on the outskirts of a city but when we got there we found nothing. So we thought, alright, they're messing with us again. Wouldn't be the first time we flew out only to find cows, but it wasn't only cows this time."

He hesitates, struggling with finding the right words, and then Will comes up behind him, clapping a firm hand on his shoulder. "It was Anti-Alien," Will says grimly. The rest of the soldiers spill out of the plane behind him, allowing the Autobots in their alt modes to roll out. "Anti-Alien ambushed us and they were prepared with some pretty heavy weapons, even RPGs. That's what got Moonracer."

He turns just as Optimus clears the ramp, allowing them to see straight through to the back of the plane where Ratchet still sits, hands working tirelessly on Moonracer's body. Ari gasps at the sight of her. Moonracer's legs are mangled, pieces of armor twisted and threatening to fall off. But it's the top part of her that's the worst. An entire arm is missing, as is most of her shoulder, and her spark chamber is exposed. The chamber is compromised, dented. If not for Ratchet being there, she would have offlined on the plane.

Jolt rushes by, coming from the Med Bay probably, and carrying a stretcher under one arm. It gets Ari moving, running into the cargo hold after him. Jolt sets the stretcher down so that he and Ratchet can gently move Moonracer onto it. Something moves threateningly inside Moonracer's chassis, like metal scraping together.

"How is she?" Ari asks, climbing onto the stretcher as well so she can get started right away, already calling the AllSpark to the forefront of her consciousness to start her own assessment, but she highly values Ratchet's judgment. He's been doing this a lot longer than her, after all.

"Not good, little one," Ratchet replies, hoisting two of the stretcher poles in his hands as Jolt lifts the others. Something scrapes again and Ratchet grimaces. "Her spark chamber is staying connected by a prayer. I've tried to repair it but there is a bit of shrapnel from the RPG lodged inside. Every time I start moving around in her chassis the shrapnel moves, threatening to pierce the chamber, but I am unable to safely remove it until the chamber is stabilized."

They move out of the plane, sparks coiling down Ari's arms to slip inside Moonracer's body. She hears the scraping again, but this time she also sees it, the AllSpark bringing an image of what's going on inside to her mind. The piece of shrapnel is at least four inches long and dangerously close to the spark chamber.

"Stop," Ari says urgently, but Ratchet just looks at her over his shoulder curiously. "Stop moving right now!"

Both he and Jolt stop, joints stiff. "What is wrong, little one?" Ratchet asks.

"Look at the shrapnel. It keeps shifting every time you move her."

"Yes, I am aware of that which is why we need to move quickly to the Med Bay."

"But look at it _now_." He complies, a light red light shining from his optics to scan over Moonracer's chassis. When he is done his optics then go wide with fear and Ari nods in agreement. "It's way too close now. Just one more millimeter and it'll puncture the spark chamber. It needs to be dealt with before we move her any further."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Were you able to save any other pieces of her?"

"Yes, her arm, though broken off, is mostly still intact, along with some larger pieces of her shoulder."

"Alright, then set her down as gently as you can. I'll do it here."

Nodding, he and Jolt carefully lower the stretcher to the ground, moving without the slightest jostle until it is lying on the tarmac. Ari looks around, noticing Arcee and Chromia standing worriedly nearby, unwilling to leave their sister's side. They can't lose her. They're triplets, sharing a sibling bond like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker do. This could break them. Maybe not completely destroy them, Chromia has her sparkbond with Ironhide to keep her aloft and that strength she can then use to hopefully keep Arcee from offlining as well, but they will never be the same again without their third.

"Arcee," Ari calls out to her, startling the femme from her thousand yard stare at her sister. Arcee's optics look at her but she gives no other kind of acknowledgment. It'll have to do though. "Arcee, I need you to go back into the plane and bring me the pieces of Moonracer Ratchet was able to salvage." Arcee's optics go hard, her stubbornness about to show itself, unwilling to leave her sister's side, but Ari is prepared for that. "This is important, Arcee. I need them in order to be able to save your sister's life. The longer we wait, the more danger she is of offlining. Now go."

A small whimper escapes Arcee's voice processor but finally she moves, rolling over towards the plane. Ari turns her eyes to Moonracer, focusing on cataloging everything that needs to be done in order to save her life. This is going to be tricky. It's a miracle the shrapnel didn't offline her going in. Ari's going to have to carefully maneuver the parts of Moonracer's chassis, simultaneously fixing what's broken and slowly dislodging the piece of metal without accidentally cutting any wires or tubes. This'll be a lot harder than fixing Bumblebee had been.

Arcee returns, setting down the parts next to the stretcher, and Ari shoots her a grateful smile. It's then that she sees they've acquired a bit of an audience. The recruits are standing nearby, having stopped between leaving the main hanger and heading over to the training facility. Lando and Bryant are with them, as are Clint and Natasha. Even Welles is staring, not even attempting to get his recruits moving and back on track. They all have an idea of what's about to happen, something none of them have actually ever seen except for Lando and maybe Welles. Lando had been there when she was rescued from the Decepticon base in the caves, and during Egypt, but she's unsure if Welles had been there yet.

But all of the others have never seen her use the power the AllSpark has given her. It's one thing to be told she's the AllSpark. It's another to actually witness it.

She shakes her head. They don't matter right now.

With a deep breath she draws up all of her power and pushes it towards Moonracer and the parts needing to be reattached, blue sparks flowing down her arms and wrapping themselves around the places that are compromised. She uses the sparks to pull the parts closer so that she can reconnect them and create new metal to fill in any gaps. Once that is started, she takes a firm grasp on the shrapnel, keeping it from moving while she repairs the damage to the spark chamber and the surrounding area. She closes her eyes, struggling to keep her focus splintered to so many different areas, but she manages it. She can feel Moonracer's systems getting better, and as soon as the arm is reattached, the shoulder repaired and her systems far enough out of danger, Ari starts to move the shrapnel out of Moonracer's body. She slowly manipulates Moonracer's internal parts to subtly move out of the way without compromising functionality in order to make enough room for the jagged piece of metal to pass, careful not to knick anything.

After a few moments, she holds out her hand above Moonracer's chassis, and the shrapnel levitates up out of Moonracer for her to grasp.

When her fingers wrap around that piece of metal she breathes a huge sigh of relief, finally opening her eyes. The worst is over.

"Well done, little one," Ratchet praises quietly, settling a hand lightly on her upper back. "Well done. I believe her systems are bringing her out of stasis lock now."

The words aren't all the way out of his mouth yet when Moonracer's chassis lifts in a deep breath and her optics slowly brighten to blue. Ari slips away, allowing Arcee and Chromia to take her place so the sisters can be together again.

She looks down at the piece of shrapnel in her hand before tossing it aside. This was a close call. Too close. And it's brought a terrifying question to her mind.

Why did N.E.S.T. detect Decepticon activity only to find nothing but hostile humans?

There's the easy answer, that there were never any 'Cons and that Anti-Alien mimicked an energon signature somehow in order to draw N.E.S.T. and the Autobots out.

And then there's the other answer, the one that Ari doesn't want to think about because it's mind-numbing and also doesn't make a whole lot of sense: that there _were_ Decepticons and they're working together with Anti-Alien. That one doesn't seem very likely considering the Decepticons hate humans and Anti-Alien doesn't like any aliens, especially the ones who actually kill people. Then again, how could Anti-Alien mimic an energon signature? How would they know how to do that and where would they have gotten the equipment? It would have taken a lot of money and resources that doesn't seem likely a small organization like Anti-Alien should be capable of.

Though there are still whispers of a mysterious benefactor to the organization. Would they be able to help Anti-Alien pull something like this off? It would explain the weapons they used today.

Will comes up to her side and she instantly sinks into his hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

"How you holding up, kiddo?" he asks.

"Alright, considering," she mumbles into his uniform. "Kind of tired. That was almost as bad as Optimus had been and I passed out for a while after that, even with the help from the Matrix."

"Maybe you should go lie down for a while then. Lando told Welles you have off for the rest of the day, right?"

"Yeah, and thanks for that. I definitely don't feel like running around in tactical gear after all of that."

"I figured you wouldn't."

She slips out of his arms and gets her first good look at Will's face. He looks worn, like he always does after a hard mission, but it's more than that. He looks like he's regretting asking these people, humans and Autobots, to go out with him, risking their lives. Optimus gets that look a lot, too, but that's usually because it's the humans who are in the most danger. Now, it's the Autobots with the targets on their backs, so much larger than they ever have been before.

"You going to be okay?" she asks.

"I will be," he replies, kissing the top of her head. "We'll talk about it later, alright?"

"So long as we _do_ talk about it."

She wants a nice long chat with Will and Optimus about what happened. She wants all the little details and then she wants to know how they're going to keep it from happening again and to discuss a better plan for going after Anti-Alien. Finding the traitor is taking too long, there are just too many suspects and Clint and Natasha have to move at a relatively slow pace in order to not be found out they're spies. They need something faster, something better, before someone else gets hurt.

She'll use herself as bait if she has to. No one else will like it but this _cannot_ go on. She's tired of the fear and uncertainty, of looking over her shoulder every day and every night. She could have handled it for a while longer if it was just her but it's not. Anti-Alien isn't targeting just her anymore, they're going after their true targets, the ones they really hate. And Ari will do whatever it takes in order to protect them.

But that's a conversation for later, after some solid rest and the fear of almost losing Moonracer has a chance of dying down.

In the meantime, she leaves Will and heads over to where she sees Sides and Sunny standing with the other Autobots who are looking on. He smiles at her proudly and she gives him a small smile in return.

"Ari?" Moonracer calls out as she passes, sounding a bit weak but still thankfully online.

Ari redirects, making a beeline for her, and slips her hand into Moonracer's healed fingers. "Yeah?"

"Thank you, for saving me."

"No need to thank me. You're family, all of you are. I'm just glad I was able to get to you in time."

"The sentiment is the same for us," Arcee says from the other side of Moonracer. "You're our family, too."

"But that doesn't mean family should not be thanked," Chromia adds in next to her. "Thank you, Ari. You've saved all three of us today."

Ari doesn't speak, afraid of doing something sappy like crying, so she just smiles brightly at all three of them, gives Moonracer's fingers one last squeeze, and then backs away so Ratchet and Jolt can pick her up and continue the journey to the Med Bay. She sighs tiredly and then continues her own journey towards Sideswipe.

He instantly kneels down when she's close, one long finger reaching out to skim the side of her face tenderly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Or, at least, I will be after a bit of a nap. Care to keep me company?"

He grins. "Always. Our room or the rec room?"

She thinks it over for a minute, finding neither place any safer than the other, and then says, "Rec room. I can fall asleep to the T.V." She turns to Clint and Natasha, firmly ignoring how the recruits are still standing there, all of them staring at her. "You coming with?"

They instantly separate from the group to join her and Sideswipe. "Where are we go going?" Natasha asks curiously.

"Just a nap in the rec room."

"I'm a master napper," Clint says excitedly, already beginning to shed his jacket. "Count me in."

Natasha rolls her eyes but there's a bit of unease in them despite the light gesture. Ari's not sure how much she knows about what happened, but it's still unsettled her all the same. "I'll come, too, just to keep you out of trouble."

"Aww, come on, Nat," Clint pouts. "We'll be sleeping. What trouble could we possibly get into?"

"Knowing you, a lot."

Sideswipe lifts Ari into his arms as the two agents continue to banter on the way to the rec room, the sound gently lulling Ari into sleep. She better get it whenever she can because she gets the feeling that whatever's coming, whatever Anti-Alien is planning, it's going to happen soon. The amount of violence they're willing to cause is escalating, and it's only a matter of time before someone actually dies.

And Ari may not be able to save anyone next time. Including herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Anti-Alien is getting bigger, badder, and bolder. They're not just taking cheap shots at Ari anymore. People are really getting hurt. It's only a matter of time now until they do something really bad. *cue evil laughter*
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	55. Progression of Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, chapter two out of six for today coming your way.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

No one likes Ari's idea to go after Anti-Alien head on.

Everyone says it's too dangerous. They still don't know hardly anything about the organization. Not where they're based, not where their leader is, not anything, even though Allen Maxwell makes regular appearances online and in person in many major cities across the country. S.H.I.E.L.D. has tried to corner him at one of these appearances, but he's always gone by the time a team gets there. Their mysterious benefactor is even more of a ghost. His identity is still unknown and no one has been able to find the money he's obviously supplying to someone somewhere and making it accessible to Maxwell. But every time they think they find a lead, it dead ends eventually.

So they can't go up against Anti-Alien, even if they wanted to, because they can't find any of them. Which is when Ari suggested drawing them out, using her as bait.

They said no. Frag no, in Sideswipe's case. She may be willing, but no one else is willing to risk her.

Frustrated, Ari throws herself into her training, spending all day with the recruits and then almost all spare moments with Clint practicing the bow or with Natasha sparing on the mats. Then each night she falls into bed, exhausted and being swallowed by sleep before Sideswipe even gets back from patrol.

She sees the worried glances but ignores them. They shouldn't be worried about her. They should be worried about Anti-Alien, because it's only a matter of time before they make their move. Ari knows all of this is a build up for something and she's terrified to find out what it is. But she's the only one who thinks there's something big coming. No one thinks they're capable of much more and are content to just wait for Clint and Natasha to find the traitor in N.E.S.T. and force whoever it is to lead them to the rest of the group. They believe that will be enough.

They are wrong. Ari knows it deep in her bones and it's not just human instinct. The AllSpark doors are rattling inside her head, wanting to show her something but holding back. And she can't force it to show her no matter how hard she pulls on the knobs. Whatever it is, she's not being allowed to see, meaning it's probably a part of a test for another mark.

The past few tests weren't exactly easy, though, or without cost.

But until the time is right, there is nothing else she can do. So she trains and trains and trains.

The day after she heals Moonracer she expects the stares from the recruits. She's used to them by now because, even though everyone at N.E.S.T. is a lot more accepting, she's still different. Very different. John and Evie are the only exceptions, treating her no differently than they ever have. She's grateful for that, doesn't want her friends to think her a freak, like Ferrel and her little group now treat her. Ari hasn't heard the actual word but she doesn't have to. She can tell what they're thinking from the sneers.

The most surprising reaction, though, comes from Trent.

All throughout the training, he's always given her leers and a cocky smile, a part of him still thinking he can win her over if he proves himself the best "man". He doesn't look at her the same way now. Now, he's more quiet towards her. His stares don't hold the same possession. She's not sure what he's thinking anymore, and it worries her a little bit. Hopefully he sees her as too different now and he doesn't want to have anything to do with her anymore.

But that doesn't feel like what this is. If it was, then she would have thought there would be at least a bit of disgust then, but there's not.

She pushes it out of her mind, both for her sanity and out of necessity. They're on the same team in training, him her team captain. Personal feelings have to be checked at the door before entering that hanger.

The training hanger located behind the outdoor gun range is massive, twice the size of the main Autobot hanger. The inside looks ordinary, just an empty hanger, but inside its floor, ceiling, and walls, there are a few tricks Wheeljack invented. This is the very first project he worked on since arriving to Earth, besides bettering their communications and energon scanners. And there's also the ongoing project of finding an alternative energon source, but Wheeljack is an expert at multitasking. At least, so long as there are no explosions.

It only took him a week to construct the hanger and he worked on it tirelessly, reminding Ari of the mad scientists she's only ever read about. Insomnia in geniuses seems to be a trait also common in Cybertronians. The floor contains hidden panels where rubble, busted cars, small buildings, and other obstacles can be brought up to create different training arenas. Depending on the training scenario, more panels in the walls and ceilings open up to reveal automated, non-lethal laser guns, and there are dummies that can come out of the floor as well that also have guns. They haven't had to fight with them yet, that won't come until week two of this portion of the training.

Each of the recruits wear the heavy tactical gear that all soldiers wear, except theirs have sensors built into the shoulders, chest, back, legs, and helmet that will turn red when hit with the laser guns. Then there's also the big laser guns they each have to carry, about the size of a standard assault rifle and made to be just as heavy.

It's basically a big game of laser tag but a lot more serious. In this version, they're all too aware that a hit means the death they would have gotten if actually out in the field.

They keep score, of course, on a big whiteboard just inside the door. They have a new session every day and so far Trent's team, the blue team, has won twice and Ferrel's team, the red team, has won three times. Ferrel's head is very big right now and Ari knows that's partially due to her. She's been holding back during the sessions, staying towards the back of the group and keeping quiet, not putting in her two-sense at the beginning of the session when each team is given five minutes to strategize and hide their flag. She's not sure how Trent would handle taking advice from her, but, surprisingly, he's very open to suggestions from everyone else. He was the quarterback in high school and they had some pretty successful seasons with him in charge on the field.

They don't really need her help. She's good at being just a soldier, because that's what she is. That's all she's ever been. She followed Will's and Optimus's lead during Mission City. Everything before Egypt was basically just following the Primes's instruction. The only major decision she made then was to gather the Matrix dust and not give up. She's always been more of a follower and she sees no reason for that to change now.

Their sixth training session makes her change her mind though.

Today, the arena is filled with rubble, broken cars, and even some small, broken down buildings, making it look like a small war-torn cityscape that almost makes Ari flashback to Mission City if not for the ceiling above them instead of a clear blue sky. As soon as the whistle is blown, Ferrel's team goes on the offensive, not allowing any of Ari's team to advance outside of the small building they've hidden their flag in. They're trapped inside, forced to resort to shooting out the broken windows at the line of "enemies" just outside. Just over twenty recruits were placed in each group and the blue team is already down to maybe a dozen after just a few minutes.

"We're getting our afts handed to us!" Evie shouts over the sound of the fake gunfire, the guns made to sound just like automatic rifles and even have the same kickback. She's crouched behind a desk, popping up every once in a while, but no one can stay up for very long without running the risk of getting shot. "What do we do?"

Trent growls in frustration. "I-I don't know. We're pinned down with no clear way out. Our only option is to hopefully pick them off."

"We can't do that," one of the other recruits says, an Asian woman with a short black bob. "They still have most of the members of their team and they must know there's not many of us left. They'll try to get in soon."

"Well, there's no way we can all make it out of here."

He's right, they can't all make it out of here, but maybe not all of them have to. Ari is crouched underneath one of the windows and, steadying herself, she pops up for just a second. Her mind thankfully works a lot faster now thanks to the AllSpark and the second is all she needs to determine that there are eighteen people left out there.

She bites her lip, thinking her plan over, but it really is their only hope if they want to win this one. "How many have we managed to kill?" she asks the entire group.

They all just stare at her, a little stunned, until Landers says, "Uh, five, I think. Not that many."

Ari nods to herself, liking these odds. "There are still eighteen out there meaning they came at us with twenty-three. They came with their entire team."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, that means no one is guarding their flag. It'll be completely undefended."

"That doesn't matter with all of us still stuck in here," Trent points out. "There's no way for us to go after it without them spotting us."

"Which is why we don't all go. We send just one person while everyone else stays behind as a distraction. All they have to do is go out a side window, circle around Ferrel's group giving them a wide berth, and then they're practically home free. The other team wouldn't even notice someone is gone until it's too late."

Everyone simply stares at her for a moment, even the shooting stopping. There's a call outside, probably Ferrel, telling the "enemy" troops to advance, and Ari grimaces. They think it's a stupid idea and now they're all about to lose, again.

But then Trent shakes himself out of it and pops back up to shoot out the window again, taking out at least two people based on the high-pitched beeps. "You guys heard her. We hold this position for as long as possible and keep them focused on us. Ari, how much time do you think you need?"

Ari's mouth gapes open a little, trying to remember the last time Trent used her actual name and surprised that he's actually wanting _her_ to be the one to go. "I figured you'd want to be the one to go."

"Normally, maybe." He spares her a glance that she can't quite interpret, again. "But you're faster than any of us, right?"

It's true. She can run a lost faster than most humans so it's only logical for her to be the one to go, but she's never known Trent to act logically when it comes to her. What is up with him lately? But there's no time to figure this out now so she simply nods. "Their flag could be anywhere so there's a lot of ground to cover, but Ferrel is really cocky with this move. They probably didn't try very hard to hide the flag because they figured none of us would get out of here in order to find it. It'll be in plain sight. I'm thinking, ten minutes, maybe fifteen? Depends on if I get caught sneaking around them or not."

"Then you better get moving. I'm not sure how long we can hold them off for."

"On it."

The building they're in is as big as a two-story, almost reaching to the ceiling of the hanger, but it's completely empty and open inside with just a few pieces of furniture that look like they belong in an office building. Makes for not a whole lot of hiding places, their flag is currently tucked away in a file cabinet drawer in a back corner among a bunch of other cabinets, but it's easy to scope out all of the windows for the best escape route.

Most of them are on the front of the building, facing the action, there's a couple on either side, and then there's on small one in the back next to a boarded up back door. She checks the back door first but they used long nails and they're buried into the wooden door jamb pretty sturdily. There's no way she's getting it out without some time and effort, but the boards over the window next to it give with a light pull. After a few good tugs three of them come out leaving a big enough hole for her to crawl out of, made even easier by the lack of glass.

She slips out, dropping to the ground without so much as a sound, even in the heavy gear, her lessons with Natasha in stealth coming in handy. Just as quietly, she makes her way to the end of the building and peeks around the corner. All the eyes in Ferrel's team are focused on Trent and the others in the building. No one is looking her way. With a quick glance to a pile of rubble a few feet away, she takes the calculated risk and breaks cover, darting out to crouch behind the rubble. She pauses for only three breaths to make sure no one spotted her and then she keeps moving.

The pattern continues for the next three minutes, moving from rubble to car to broken wall, never staying out in the open for too long but making sure she stays moving. The faster she's around the opposing team, the faster she'll be out of danger.

When she makes it behind them she picks up speed, staying out in the open for longer with one eye always looking over her shoulder. No one looks back, though. No one notices she's gone, and she smiles in small victory.

She keeps moving to the far side of the hanger, eyes sweeping around for even the smallest sign of the bright red fabric that is Ferrel's flag, but so far there's nothing. It's been seven minutes since she first climbed out the window. If she doesn't find it soon, Ferrel and her team with get the blue flag first.

But then she spots it, stopping dead in her tracks to marvel at Ferrel's audacity. Their flag is tied to a large piece of pipe that someone stuck straight up in the ground, like a mini flag pole. They didn't even try to hide their flag this time, so sure they would win.

Not this time.

Ari walks right up to the flag and snatches it off the pole, undoing the loose knots. As soon as she does, the whistle blows calling an end to the training exercise and signaling all of the recruits to gather together at the hanger doors where those who were "killed" are forced to wait until the end of the session. Ari is the furthest from the door and so is the last to arrive. When she comes forward, Ironhide, in his holoform, starts a slow clap that the rest of her team quickly picks up, cheering as she holds the captured flag high above her head.

She's never been held up in a group like this before. In high school and before, she was always one of those kids who got picked last and was never very helpful to the team. But things have changed. Things have definitely changed.

"Well done, blue team," Ironhide praises as the cheers die down. "Well done. You thrashed the other team and came out on top despite the odds. The ingenuity and teamwork you portrayed today are just what N.E.S.T. needs."

"But she cheated!" Ferrel bursts out, pointing an accusing finger at Ari. "She obviously cheated. She used those freaking lightning powers of hers."

Ironhide's eyes narrow at Ferrel and he crosses his arms in front of his bulky chest. "There was no cheating. There are cameras to monitor the training sessions all over the hanger and I was watching them personally. All she did was sneak out of the building and flank your team. She slipped past and took your flag right under your noses, which means your observation skills are severely lacking. Any of you would have caught her if you simply turned around. _Never_ assume victory until the battle is over and the last enemy has fallen."

With a huff Ironhide then turns his back on Ferrel to approach the whiteboard, using a marker to add another tally to the blue team's points. They cheer again as Ferrel and her team sulk like petulant children refused candy. The weight of Ferrel's glares are heavy, but nothing compared to the lightness Ari's feeling right now.

Then Trent steps up to her and her smile falters slightly, a deep wariness taking its place. But there's no cocky grin or wandering eyes. He's surprisingly serious in this moment, more still than she's ever seen him, and it makes her nervous. What is going through his head? He's been different since the recruits, including him, witnessed her saving Moonracer.

She's not sure if it's good or bad.

"Hey, Trent," she says cautiously, twisting the flag in her hands.

"Hey, Short Stuff," he replies, the familiar nickname not said with any of the usual rude inflection.

They stand in silence for a moment while everyone else around them are still joking around, high off of their win. Silence usually works with Trent, he'll get fed up with it and finally get to the point of why he's talking to her, and it works now, but he's not annoyed with her like he usually is when she ignores him.

"You…did good today," he says slowly, the compliment sounding awkward on his lips and it's awkward for Ari to hear it because it's just so unlike him. His compliments are usually filled with innuendo.

This is so weird but it's not actually bad so she hands him the red flag and says, "Thanks. And thank you for listening to me."

For once.

He nods stoically and then walks off without another word. Ari blinks after him. So weird.

Since training is done for the day, Welles and Ironhide dismiss the recruits, allowing them to go to the locker rooms and take off all the heavy tactical gear. After a quick shower Ari checks her phone for the time. Sideswipe just started a patrol a little while ago so she has some time to herself.

Well, not so much herself, she's reminded as she exits the locker room. Two soldiers, her current keepers, are waiting for her and she sighs.

She can't wait for this to be over.

She starts walking towards the rec room, the two soldiers falling into line behind her. She'd like nothing more than to have some alone time right now to properly think about what's going on with Trent. Or, better yet, have some time to not think about anything at all. She'd love a vacation, at the very least a chance off base, but none of that is going to happen any time soon. It's too dangerous.

She needs a vacation. Or at least some downtime with Sides. Just being near him helps her relax. Again, she pulls out her phone to check the time but he won't be done with his patrol for a while yet.

With a deep sigh she enters the rec room, scanning the couches and benches for someone to keep her company, but she doesn't see any of her usual human companions and hanging out with Skids and Mudflap really isn't all that appealing, especially while they're trying to outdo each other in a racing game on the PS3. Again. And it's sure to get violent. Again.

But then she notices a rope hanging down in the corner of the room.

Her eyes gradually follow the line up towards the ceiling where she spots a figure up in the rafters. She doesn't need advanced eyesight to know who it is. Immediately, she goes over to the rope and quickly climbs it with just her hands, her feet dangling down all the way up. Once she reaches the rafters she pulls herself onto a beam and stands, carefully poised on her feet, and walks over to where Clint is lying across the rafters, one leg dangling carelessly over the side.

"Hi," she says when she reaches him, sitting down on the beam next to him with her back resting against one of the support beams running perpendicular to connect to the ceiling.

"Hey," he says, sitting up near her feet. He's in his usual suit but the jacket is nowhere to be seen and the sleeves are rolled up to the elbows. He really does hate that suit, always trying to get rid of it even though it's part of his cover. "So what have you been up to?"

"Just got done with today's training session." She smiles proudly. "Our team won today."

"Yeah, so I heard. Nat said you did awesome out there today. Really put the skills she taught you to the test."

She blushes slightly in pleasure. "I didn't know she was watching."

"Well, like I said, at least one of us is gonna be with you at all times for the foreseeable future."

"I didn't even see her though."

He hums thoughtfully. "Maybe we should add stealth hiding to your training."

She smirks in amusement. "Really think that's something I'm going to need?"

"Hey, you never know when staying invisible will come in handy."

"True. I guess it couldn't hurt. Though the Decepticons never have any trouble finding me."

"Well, you're dealing with more than just Decepticons now. You've got Anti-Alien to worry about too."

Ari frowns, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Do you think they'll come after me?"

"Honestly, anything is possible at this point. They've gone after you, they've gone after the Autobots, but they haven't done anything to show what their real goal is."

"I thought they want all the aliens gone?"

"That's part of it but I don't think it's the whole picture. If that's all they wanted, why start by coming after you? Why even bother with you in the first place, AllSpark or not? It's not going to get any Cybertronians off planet any faster."

She sighs in frustration, thumping her head back against the beam lightly. "I don't know. None of this makes any sense, but I wish that they'd do something already so it can all be over."

He grimaces at her. "Don't go talking about using yourself as bait again. That's only going to get you killed, Ari, not actually end this."

"So everyone keeps telling me." She pulls her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and propping her chin on her knees. It makes her seat a bit precarious but she's not worried about falling in the slightest. "I just want this to be over, Clint. I want my life back."

"I know you do, kiddo, but poking at the bear won't make it go away any faster."

"I guess," she mumbles softly.

"Don't make me sic Nat on you," he teases, nudging her legs with his elbow. "She'll get rid of any thoughts of rebellion out of your head."

She snorts. "Don't worry, she already has that covered. She's planning another date for me and Sideswipe already. I think it's going to be next week but I have no idea what we're doing."

He nudges her again. "Hey, that's a good thing, right?"

She smiles softly. "Yeah, it is. The dates help get my mind off of things, at least for a little while."

Hopefully the next one turns out better than the last.

"How is your relationship with Sideswipe going?" Clint asks curiously.

The blush creeps back up around her ears. "Good. Really good. I can't imagine what I ever did without him now. I love him, more than I ever thought I'd get the chance to love anyone. He knows me better than anyone I've ever known and I know him almost as much as Sunstreaker does and they share a sibling bond. When we're together…everything is right in the world and nothing else matters."

A grin spread across his face. "Sounds like you're happy."

"I am. Very happy."

"Think things will be going any further anytime soon?"

She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. "Have you been talking to Nat?"

His smile turns mischievous. "Maybe a little."

She groans. "Who would have thought spies would be such gossips."

"If you think about it, spies are the worst gossips in the world."

"Whatever," she says, rolling her eyes. "If you talked to Nat, then you know the answer already. This relationship can't go much further. We already basically live together and the physical side of things probably won't progress, especially with marriage off the table."

"Why is marriage off the table?"

She gives him a deadpan look. "Come on, Clint, Sideswipe is an alien. If we were to try to get a marriage license we would be turned down immediately. He doesn't even have a Social Security Number. Let's face it. It's impossible."

"A marriage license is just a piece of paper, Ari. All it does is let the government know that you're together relatively permanently and a couple other legal stuff. But marriage, real marriage, isn't about any of those things. It's a promise to each other to always be together no matter what."

She huffs a small laugh. "'Til death do us part?"

"If it comes down to it, yeah"

"What's the point of a promise like that for us? Death is going to come a lot sooner to me than it will to him." Ari stares down at the rec room below morosely, at all the happy faces of the humans and Autobots. Two recruits challenged Skids and Mudflap to a race by the looks of it. They're laughing and joking around, but in a couple decades Skids and Mudflap will still be here and those two recruits will just be memories, memories that will one day perhaps be forgotten completely. "I'm human with a human lifespan. Sideswipe could live for thousands of years more. I'm a blink of an optic to him."

"Ari. Ari, look at me." She does, staring into Clint's suddenly serious, gray-blue eyes. "If you knew that thirty years from now the war would still be going on and Sideswipe were to be offlined, would you still want to stay with him?

Her gut churns at the thought of that but she nods. "Of course."

"That's how Sideswipe feels about you. He doesn't care how long you live for, so long as he gets to spend that time with you." He takes one of her hands holding her legs and squeezes. "So don't push aside marriage because you only get a human lifetime together, or just because you can't tie the knot with a legal bow. The promise you make will be just as real, a declaration to each other and the world that you are his and he is yours. Nothing will ever change that, not even your death."

She chuckles softly. "That's rather sappy of you."

His mouth turns up in a crooked grin. "Hey, I have some soft sides. I'm not all hard edges. Just don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry, I won't. But I still don't see a marriage happening." Even though, the way Clint puts it, it's starting to sound a bit appealing. This is it for them. They're happy together and want to stay that way for as long as they can. They always talk about their relationship in terms of forever, permanent. Not until either of them find someone of their own species, especially since Sideswipe believes he doesn't have a Cybertronian femme out there somewhere, his real sparkmate. He's convinced the two of them are supposed to be together, and she finds it hard to disagree, especially whenever they kiss and she feels the rush of emotions flowing between them. So why shouldn't they shout it from the rooftops, to the universe, to Primus himself?

"And why's that?"

"Because, the guy is usually the one to propose to the girl and I highly doubt this is something Sideswipe is thinking about."

His crooked grin widens. "Oh, ye of little faith."

* * *

Sideswipe really isn't out on patrol.

He feels bad for lying to Ari about it but he needed to slip away without her knowing. He trusts his brother to look after her for him, so as soon as his "patrol" started, Ari still in the middle of her training session, he took off for Tranquility.

He's talked to Will, Rob, and Clint about this, the human men he trusts most. They each gave good advice, especially Will and Rob since this is something they've done before, but he's still nervous.

Why is picking an engagement ring so fragging hard? And why are there so many of them?

The eyes of his holoform scan over the rings in the glass case in front of him for the third time, each ring flashier and embedded with more diamonds than the last. Will recommended this jewelry store to him but nothing is really clicking. Nothing feels right for Ari.

And it needs to be perfect. This is the femme he wants to spend as much of the future as possible with. He loves her, wants to spend every waking hour with her. Wants the let the world know that she is his. He's thought about proposing to her for weeks now, since he's told her he loves her to be honest. Once a Cybertronian finds their one, their sparkmate, bonding usually happens soon after. That can't happen for him and Ari, though.

So, even though he can't bond with her and be with her in the way of _his_ people, he can be with her in the way of _hers_.

His eyes suddenly catch on something, a ring towards the back he didn't notice before. A slow smile spreads across his face and he taps on the glass above the ring, looking up at the store clerk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So did you like this chapter as much as I do?
> 
> I always knew I wanted to get to the point where they would start thinking about marriage, it's why the subject was brought up while Ari was talking to Nat in a previous chapter, I just wasn't sure exactly how to do it until this chapter. But I like where this went. It makes sense to me that they'd be thinking about this level of commitment already. To them, they haven't been together only since Egypt. It's always been the two of them, even when they didn't know it. And in my headcannon, Cybertronians don't really wait all that long when they find their sparkmate. They jump right into the bond because, why wait? They know this is it for them and that's not going to change. That's how Sideswipe feels and Ari does, too.
> 
> As for the stuff with Trent, well, you'll just have to wait and see.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	56. Energon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3/6 for today.
> 
> I know you all are probably anxious for the proposal now but you're just gonna have to wait. We get a little sidetracked here because of some interesting developments.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

After her conversation with Clint, she returns to her room to think, her bodyguards thankfully deciding to stay out in the hallway to give her some much needed alone time. Marriage is something she's always wanted. Getting married to Sideswipe, will it, could it, actually happen? Clint's right, they don't need any of it to be legal. They can still have the ceremony without the marriage license. It would only be symbolic, a promise without any actual ties, but that would be good enough for them.

A promise to always be together, for as long as they can.

But she has no idea how to bring it up to Sideswipe. Marriage isn't something Cybertronians do. They find their sparkmates, they bond, and that's it. They don't have ceremonies like humans do, no white dress, no exchange of vows and rings. How does she talk to him about it?

The longer she thinks, the more conversations she plans out in her head, the more nervous she gets about the whole thing. She always feels so awkward trying to explain these kinds of human customs to him, the relationship and romantic kinds.

How is she supposed to do this?

After a while she glances at her phone to find that she's out of time and Sideswipe will be getting back from his patrol soon. Just thinking about it, she knows she's going to turn beat red when she sees him and then he's going to ask what's wrong and then she's going to mangle the entire conversation.

So she decides to escape for a little while, put off seeing him just a little bit longer, and get this entire silly idea out of her head. She doesn't want to pressure Sideswipe into doing something he may not want to do anyway. If she brings it up, he'll assume it's something she wants and then he'll just do it, without considering what he wants. He's so good to her but she doesn't want to do that to him, so she wonders off to the Med Bay, her bodyguards following along behind her at a distance. At first, she intends to visit Ratchet, but he isn't there at the moment. Belatedly, she realizes he's out on another mission, so she keeps moving to the back of the Med Bay and through a set of double doors leading to a new room that was recently added on to the building.

Wheeljack's workshop.

Ari hasn't seen much of the inventor since he and the others on his ship arrived on Earth. As soon as this lab space was created for him he's been working almost non-stop, chugging out new tools and gizmos for N.E.S.T. to use in their fight against the Decepticons, and then of course working on the energon project. He has at least ten different things going at once and it's easily shown in his workspace.

There are big, long tables set up all over the room and every little bit of table top is covered in sheets of metal, gears, tools, devices big and small, and so much more, things Ari can't even begin to identify. Some of it looks finished, others half completed, and others still look like they've been gutted to be used in something else entirely. It's like a mad scientist's lab and mechanic shop all rolled into one. The only difference is the back of the room where a huge blast shield on rolling wheels sits, black soot covering up most of the silver metal and a third of the small rectangular window.

That is why Wheeljack's workshop is connected to the Med Bay, just in case he's in need of it from blowing himself up. Again. Her bodyguards stay near the doors, probably rightly so.

The mech himself is elbow-deep in one of the open panels of some sort of contraption on one of the desks. It's a mass of wires and parts contained within a metal box about half the size of a car. Ari has absolutely no idea what it is so she scales the table and approaches with caution.

"Hey, Wheeljack," she says, still a good distance away just in case she startles him. A startled Wheeljack is a dangerous Wheeljack. "What are you up to?"

Wheeljack jumps slightly in surprise, his hands jerking inside the machine with a thunk, and he curses in Cybertronian as he quickly pulls them out, shaking them like he's trying to shake away the pain from his fumble. He gives Ari a sheepish grin and she giggles. "Ari! Good to see you again, as always. Pardon the mess, I've been meaning to clean it up a bit but, um, well, I never quite get around to it."

"That's alright, Wheeljack," she says, sitting down on the table near him with her legs dangling over the side. "Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself too bad, did you?"

"Oh, no, I'm quite alright." He looks down at his hand, wiggling his fingers as if to prove that they really are just fine. "Just a pit of a pinch is all. Hazards of the job."

"So what are you working on this time?"

"This," he holds his hands out to the machine in a grand gesture, like Vanna White, "is my energon converter. I've just about finished it."

"How's it work?" she asks and his optics light up in excitement, just like they always do when he talks about his work.

"You see, energon is the raw energy found in the middle of stars. Very specific frequency, but that's all energon is: energy. I've been working on a way to take the energy conducted by kinetic energy and converting it into energon. After that it's simply a matter of concentrating that energy into a liquid state, which was easy to figure out after examining the leftover parts of the sun harvester from your battle in Egypt."

"So the hard part was finding a way to convert the electricity into the raw energy of energon?"

"Precisely." His hands go back into the machine, fiddling with a few things, and then he's snapping all the panels shut. "I think I've got it this time though. Just about to test it. Care to watch?"

Ari looks over the machine in apprehension. It's not like his creations _always_ blow up. It's just sometimes. Maybe a third of the time.

And he just had something explode yesterday so that probably means it won't this time.

Knowing that the only other option would be to leave, she nods. "Sure, why not."

"Excellent." He holds out a hand and she climbs on so he can place her on his shoulder, both for a good view and for protection. If something goes wrong, he'll be able to act quickly to shield her. He then picks up the energon converter and carries it to a very large tank filled with hundreds of gallons of water. He places the machine inside the tank, pulls out a large tube connected to its side, and then attaches the other end of the tube to an energon cube.

"This is just a scale model," Wheeljack explains as he starts setting up a water pump. "So, in reality, I'm going to have to build a collection tank much bigger than this, but one cube should serve for our purposes in a test run."

"So how is this going to work exactly?" Ari asks as he finally steps back to survey his work.

"Theoretically, the energon converter will work with any type of energy, but I wanted something clean. This version of the converter works with hydroelectric energy."

"You mean like what they have at dams?"

"Precisely. Water flows into the converter through this pipe here," he points to a large piece of pipe on one side of the machine. "The flowing water will then turn a turbine inside which then powers the generator, conducting electricity. My machine converts that electricity into energon, then the energon into its liquid state, and the liquid will pump down the tube into the cube."

"Sounds easy enough." Ari hangs onto the side of Wheeljack's head with one hand. "Alright. Turn it on."

A few quick flicks of switches and the pump and converter grumble to life. The two of them wait withheld breaths as they watch the process Wheeljack just described. Water is pushed towards the converter and the turbine begins to spin with a whirring noise muffled by the water. There's a clunking noise, the machine giving an odd jerk, and Wheeljack takes a worried step back, lifting a hand to curl around Ari just in case.

But then there's two more clunks and a purple, iridescent liquid begins to spit out of the machine, down the clear tube, and into the cube.

Energon.

When the cube is full several minutes later, Wheeljack quickly turns off all the machines and disconnects the tube from the cube.

"So?" Ari asks, eyes flitting between the cube and Wheeljack as he lifts it up to hold close to his face. "Did it work?"

"It appears so," Wheeljack replies with distracted fascination, spinning the cube around in his hands. "Took quite a bit more energy than I thought it would just to make this small amount. Quite a bit more. Might mean I failed. We won't really know until we test it."

"How do we test it?"

"Well…the most sure way would be for a Cybertronian to eat it."

She blinks up at him uncertainly. "Do you think that's safe? I mean, what if something went really wrong? It's not going to offline whoever tries it, will it?"

"No, no, the most it'll do is taste bad, worse than the slag we're drinking now."

A crooked grin she learned from Sideswipe spreads across her face. "Then who do we trick into drinking it?"

Wheeljack laughs. "I like the way you think! And I do believe we have a couple of test subjects coming shortly. Sideswipe wanted to know if any of us had seen you and I told him you were with me."

She grins. "He's probably heading this way then. Is Sunstreaker with him?"

"We're about to find out."

The double doors open not moments later, both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker wheeling into the room. It takes all of Ari's will not to grin at them. She's gotten a lot better at not giving herself away in a prank thanks to them. Now, they may just live to regret it.

"There you are," Sideswipe says, coming right over and offering his hand to her. She immediately goes to him, allowing him to move her from Wheeljack's shoulder to his own. Despite whatever possible mischief, she still missed Sideswipe and wants to be close to him. "So what are you guys up to?"

"Science!" Wheeljack exclaims excitedly, ushering Sides and Sunny closer to his machine for a closer look. "I've finally done it, chaps!"

"Are you serious?" Sunstreaker asks. "You've actually made energon?"

"Well, it's nowhere near as pure as what's found in stars but, yes, it is essentially energon, just a manufactured version."

"And does it taste better than that slag Ratchet is having us eat?"

Ari suppresses a smirk. "Why don't you try it and see for yourself? Wheeljack already did and he said it's a lot better."

Sunstreaker looks between her and Wheeljack warily, and for a moment she thinks Sunny doesn't believe her, but when Wheeljack holds the cube out to him he takes it. He swirls the liquid around in the cube a little, hesitating, but then he takes a deep breath and takes a sip.

Ari watches his faceplates closely, looking for a sign of what he thinks. "Well? How does it taste?"

He doesn't answer right away, just hums thoughtfully and takes another drink, bigger this time. A pleased smile spreads across his faceplates. "Not bad, Wheeljack. Still doesn't taste like the real thing but it's definitely a lot better."

"Darn," Ari mumbles in disappointment. "No offense, Wheeljack, but I was kind of hoping you'd failed and it tasted like slag."

Wheeljack chuckles. "Me too, Ari. Me too."

Sunstreaker's smile drops like a stone. "You didn't actually test this, did you."

Ari bites her bottom lip, trying to suppress a laugh. "Nope. Not at all."

"You're lucky you're with my brother, Squishy," Sunstreaker growls, "and that this actually tastes fine. But you!" He punches Wheeljack on the arm. Wheeljack just cackles, not trying to suppress his laughter at all. "Why the frag did you let me drink that?"

Wheeljack keeps laughing, unable to stop enough in order to speak, so Sunstreaker turns his scowl to his brother. "We're a bad influence, Sides."

"I know," Sideswipe says with a crooked grin. "Isn't it awesome?"

"No, it's not awesome, not when I'm the victim!"

"Oh, come on, Sunny, it turned out fine. Like you said, the energon didn't even taste bad."

"It still doesn't taste great, either. Here," he holds out the cube for Sideswipe to take, "you try it."

"Alright." Sideswipe takes an even bigger taste than Sunny did, smacking his lips together as he takes in the taste. "You're right. Not like the good stuff but still better."

"Well, this was only the first trial run," Wheeljack says, taking the converter out of the tank and opening up one of the panels again so he can fiddle. "After a few tweaks I'm quite confident I can make the energon even better."

"It still won't be the same though," Sunstreaker sighs mournfully.

"It won't ever be the same," Wheeljack says matter-of-factly. "Not without a sun harvester and a star to harvest, neither of which are readily available. I'm afraid this is as good as it's going to get, chaps."

But that doesn't have to be true, Ari thinks to herself as she stares down at her arm, at her AllSpark marks. The AllSpark was supposed to produce energon. Put a little in and a lot came out, just as good as what they got from suns. If only she could unlock that ability, but she doesn't know what the requirements are for her to gain it. It's always a give and take with these marks. Something always first has to happen, she has to do something to earn it.

But what does she have to do to earn the power to create energon?

They talk for a bit more. Well, they listen to Wheeljack talk about his machine a bit more, plus some of the other little projects he's got going on, but then Ari, Sides, and Sunny finally leave Wheeljack to his work, making their way to the rec room.

"So, I hear you had quite the victory today?" Sideswipe asks as they enter the main Autobot hanger. He nods to her two bodyguards still following behind them, relieving them of duty now that he's going to be sticking with her. The soldiers wonder off in the hanger while they continue towards the rec room.

"Yeah," Ari says, almost having forgotten the rest of her day. It's easy to get caught up in Wheeljack's inventions and imagination. He really is a genius. "Our team won today, really sticking it to Ferrel."

"I wish I could have been there to see it," Sideswipe says, leaning his head against her affectionately. His metal feels cool compared to her heated skin from the warm Nevada afternoon and she presses herself closer to him gratefully.

"Ironhide probably still has the footage," Sunstreaker says. "Think he'll let us take a look?"

"I don't know. It's worth a shot. Hey, maybe he'll let us stream it in the rec room so everyone can laugh at Ferrel's defeat."

Ari lets the two brothers talk as she thinks on everything else that's happened today, specifically what she talked about with Clint. She looks at the profile of Sideswipe's face. He seems so happy and open, but there's no way to tell if he's really thinking about marriage like Clint seems to think. Again, why would he?

But really, that isn't the question she should be considering. The real question is: Does she want to marry Sideswipe?

She thinks of everything she knows about Sideswipe, of everything she's seen and everything he's ever told her about his past. Sideswipe is strong, and kind. He's selfless and brave. He's insanely optimistic and always has a smile on his face. He knows how to make her laugh, always and in all the best ways. He's seen her, all of her, all the scars, all the dark places, but he's still able to see the light. He sees something in her that's _worth_ it. There are so many things about herself that she wishes she could change but Sideswipe loves her for them.

And she loves everything about him. She was beginning to lose faith in the goodness of people when she found him. He restored her faith, showed her that there is still kindness in the world and that she deserves that kindness as well. He is her rock, her anchor, her protector and best friend. To lose him would be to lose a part of herself. To have him always be in her life is the only thing she needs.

So, does she want to marry Sideswipe?

Yes. Yes, she does.

They're just entering the rec room when a dull pain grows in her skull, still mild right now, but it makes her sit up straight and pay attention.

"Ari?" Sideswipe asks worriedly, catching on to her change in demeanor. "You okay?"

She doesn't answer, concentrating on what her body is trying to tell her. Earlier, she thought she felt hot because it's hot outside, but she's beginning to realize that isn't the case at all. She's inside, it's cool in here, but she's only growing hotter. And she _never_ gets headaches.

Except for on certain occasions.

She swallows heavily. She's ever liked this next part. "Sideswipe, I think I'm getting another mark."

He knows she doesn't like this next part either, so as soon as the words are out he's helping her to slide down from his shoulder so he can hold her in his arms close to his chassis. "It'll be okay, sweetspark. This is a good thing, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. I just wish it doesn't have to hurt so much. Is Ratchet on his way?"

"He's still on the mission with the others. They're on their way back but we still have a good thirty minutes until they get here."

She sighs. "That's fine, I guess. It's not like I actually need him to monitor me or check me out after. I just know he likes to. Though who knows how long I'll be out for."

Sideswipe grimaces. He doesn't like it when this happens either. It's a natural part of her gaining the powers of the AllSpark, but he worries so much every time it happens. "Hopefully you aren't out for long this time. Jolt is on his way, though, just in case."

"Ari?" a voice calls from below and she looks down from Sideswipe's arms to see Evie, and her brother John, looking up at them curiously. A lot of the others in the room are staring at them actually.

"Is everything alright?" Evie asks.

"Sort of," Ari hedges, sharing a look with Sideswipe.

"Maybe we should move this somewhere else."

But it's too late for that. The headache spikes, sharp and hot, and she lets out a cry of pain despite trying to hold it in, clutching at her head with her hands. Then, just as quickly as it started, darkness consumes her.

* * *

Ari feels the sand underneath her and opens her eyes to a blazing sun shining above her. She sighs in relief, glad the worst of it is over. She sits up, looking around at the familiar desert, but it's familiar for more than one reason now. Now, she knows what this desert is, a desert deep within Egypt where the Tomb of the Primes resides. That's why she keeps coming here whenever she's brought before the Primes. This is where they are buried.

She makes the short walk over to the jagged mountains, the Primes coming out from behind the peaks as soon as she's close. It feels like it's been forever since she's last been here. Or maybe it's simply that so much has happened since then. Last she was here, she was in Egypt, saving Optimus and telling Sideswipe she loves him in the middle of a battlefield. Since then there have been many dates, she's become a recruit, and the entire world has been told Cybertronians exist. Not to mention, Anti-Alien has come into play.

"Hello, Ari," the first Prime greets, nodding his head to her. "You seem tired. I hope you are doing well?"

"As well as can be," she says with a shrug. "It's been a long couple of months."

"That it has. This Anti-Alien business is quite troubling, but even they have a part in Primus's plans."

"Really? Because they're starting to get more and more dangerous."

"Sometimes one must go through great danger in order to reach the best result. Trust me when I say that everything will turn out as it should. All in due time."

She sighs. Vague, just as usual. And that's probably all they're going to give her. "So, have I earned another mark?"

The femme Prime smiles. "Yes, you have."

"And what did I do exactly?" That's how it always seems to be half the time, she unwittingly gains the right to the next mark without even knowing it, almost accidentally.

"You have gained this mark because not only has your relationship with Sideswipe been successful so far, but you have decided to take the next step with him."

Ari's eyes widen, taking in all the implications in that sentence. "Whoa, hey now, I didn't decide anything."

"Yes, you did," the biggest Prime interjects, crossing his arms in front of his chassis. "You have decided to, in human terms, marry him."

"No, I didn't," Ari clarifies slowly. "I-I decided I wouldn't mind marrying him but nothing has actually happened. I haven't said yes to anything and he hasn't proposed."

"That may be, but is it not perfectly acceptable in your culture for the femme to ask the mech to marry her?"

"W-Well, yeah, I guess, but I didn't decide to do that either."

"That does not matter," the femme Prime says. "You have decided, once and for all, to spend the rest of your life with him. That is all that matters."

Ari runs a hand roughly over her face. "Really? That's it? That's all I had to do to get this mark?"

Why in the world are the Primes, and Primus for that matter, so caught up with being matchmakers?

The first Primes smirks. "Well, that is not all, no. You could not achieve this mark until Wheeljack had completed his work."

Ari's brow furrows in confusion. "You mean the energon converter? It's not exactly complete. He said he still has some tweaking to do and besides, it doesn't make perfect energon."

"It doesn't need to. It simply needed to be close enough, closer than the degrading process Ratchet had invented as a temporary solution."

"So what do I do?"

"Now, Ari, you create the lifeblood of our race so that Sideswipe may continue to stay with you."

* * *

Ari slowly blinks her eyes open, the light shining brightly down on her but nowhere near as bright as that desert sun. The grogginess clears with each blink, her vision of the Primes getting further and further away as reality comes back into focus.

She's still wrapped firmly in Sideswipe's arms, his presence surrounding her, comforting. She presses herself closer to him, taking in his warmth and allowing her body to fully relax. It's over. She has her fourth mark. Only two more to go and then she doesn't have to go through any of that again.

"Ari?" Sideswipe asks, shifting her higher in his arms and cupping the back of her head with a hand. He tilts her face up to look at him and his worry melts into sudden relief once he sees she's awake. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she says, reaching a hand up to him and he smiles, instantly leaning down to kiss her. Their emotions swirl together, his worry and fear, her calm and contentment, until Sideswipe finally pulls away, satisfied that she really is okay.

"Who is Chief Medical Officer?" a voice asks and Ari turns her head to see Ratchet standing nearby, Sunstreaker beside him, and his concrete stance leaving no room for argument. She must have been out longer than she thought, for Ratchet to be back already, but it's always hard to tell when she's in that other place. It's real yet not real. Time passes differently, and she had to spend a bit of time there for the Primes to explain what it is she can do with the new mark.

"You are," Ari mumbles, reluctantly moving from Sideswipe's arms to Ratchet's waiting palm so he can scan her. She knows she's fine, the pain is simply a byproduct of her body changing yet again because of the new mark, but Ratchet can be a bit paranoid and can only be placated once he sees for himself that she's alright. The only reason Sideswipe puts up with handing over Ari at all is because he's also paranoid and likes having a second-opinion on her health as well.

She lives with a bunch of mother hens, seriously.

Speaking of mother hens, she figured Optimus, or at least Will, would be here after what happened. "Where is everyone else?"

"They are in the war room getting debriefed," Ratchet explains as a red light runs over her body. "Optimus excused me so that I could check on you but the rest of them stayed to get it finished. You know how it is; best to get it all done as soon as possible, while the memories are fresh."

She nods. Yeah, she can understand that, especially after what happened with Anti-Alien. She'll go see them when she's done to make sure everything is alright.

Ratchet finishes his scans with a satisfied nod and she doesn't even have to ask to know she's perfectly fine. "So what mark did you acquire this time?"

Ari holds out her arm for them to see, the new mark falling beneath her healing mark and next to the life mark, so that it's like there are two columns of marks forming down her arm with the square AllSpark mark residing at the top. "It's energon. The mark for energon."

Ratchet studies the mark closely, his optics flitting up to meet her eyes hopefully. "Does this mean what I think it means, little one?"

She grins. "It means, take me to see Wheeljack. I need to take a look at his converter."

* * *

"Are you telling me that I spent all that time creating this converter for nothing?" Wheeljack asks, sounding just this side of insulted.

"No," Ari reassures, trying to keep him from getting upset. An upset Wheeljack means significantly more chances for explosions. "You needed to complete the converter in order for me to get this mark. The AllSpark never actually made energon from scratch, it just made more of whatever you fed into it. The same applies to me, so I need the energon you're able to make."

Wheeljack lifts a skeptical brow. "Alright then, if you say so. Let's test this out, shall we?" He sets the converter up in the tank and attaches a fresh cube. He turns it on, fills up the cube with energon, and then hands the cube to her.

"I need something to put the new energon in," Ari says. "Something big."

"Hmm, let me see here." Wheeljack rummages through a pile of discarded parts, muttering absently to himself, until he pulls up a large tank, larger than the one he's using for his converter. "Will this do?"

"Perfect."

He sets it on the table and she sits cross-legged next to it, placing the energon cube down in front of her. She then presses the palm of one hand flat against the dirty glass of the tank, her other hand touching the top of the cube, and concentrates. The power of the AllSpark instantly comes at her bidding, feeling stronger than it did before now that she has unlocked a new ability. Sparks bristle along her left arm, reaching down into the energon cube and then crawling back up to her chest where they hold for a few seconds. She can feel the AllSpark coursing through the energon, recognizing its energy and replicating it. It then draws that energy through her, down her right arm, and into the tank, the blue sparks crackling wildly inside the tank like fire as fresh energon begins to bubble up at the bottom.

"Fascinating," Wheeljack says softly, watching as the tank fills with the purple liquid three times as fast as his machine filled the much smaller cube. "Absolutely fascinating. How is a human body able to accomplish so much?"

"It's the marks," Ratchet explains. "The AllSpark has grown circuitry beneath them, as well as the changes made to her brain. She is unique."

"That she is," Sideswipe agrees with a small smile.

The tank finishes filling to the brim and Ari pulls her hands away, the sparks ceasing. "Well?" she asks, surveying her handiwork. "Who wants to test it?"

"I will do it," Ratchet volunteers. Wheeljack hands him an empty cube, he scoops out a helping of energon, and takes a sip. Ari watches nervously, almost afraid it didn't turn out good even though she did it exactly how the Primes taught her. Ratchet's optics widen in surprise and he takes another drink. "This energon is perfect. It tastes just like the energon we get from suns."

"Wheeljack's energon isn't that perfect," Sunstreaker says. "Here, let me try it." Ratchet passes over the cube and Sunny takes a big gulp. His optics widen in surprise too. "Holy frag, you're right. But I thought the AllSpark replicates what's put into it?"

"Well, it's not like we ever put degraded energon into it," Sideswipe says. "Who's to say it _always_ replicates exactly?"

"Huh." Ari looks down at her hands, astonished yet again at what they're capable of now. "I guess the power was perfecting the energon as it replicated, using Wheeljack's formula as a jumping-off point. That's why I needed something closer to pure energon than what Ratchet was making."

"Fascinating," Wheeljack says again. "And look at the quantity! This will last us three months, at least."

"I could have kept going," Ari says with a shrug. "I only stopped because the tank was full."

Sideswipe grins, picking her up to place her on his shoulder. "Looks like we don't have to worry about energon supplies anymore."

No, they won't. Ari will be able to keep them in good supply now, providing for the Cybertronians in their need. This is their food source, their only food source. Without Ari, they would have run out and died eventually. But they'll be able to keep living. Because of her.

It's nice to be able to do something for them for once after they've all done such for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, four marks down, only two more to go.
> 
> I knew the AllSpark was used to make energon in canon, but getting Ari to the point where she would be able to make it was kind of hard. I think I like what I ended up with though. Oh, and the using hydroelectric energy in order to manufacture energon was canon, too, so, yeah, not entirely my idea.
> 
> I know you guys are probably disappointed that Sideswipe didn't propose yet, but what can I say? They were kind of busy this chapter. Besides, Sideswipe is going to want to do this right, you know that. He isn't just going to spout it out. He'll want to do the whole take her to dinner, drop on one knee thing.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	57. It's Never a Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4/6 for today.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Sometimes it's hard to tell a dream from reality. And for Ari, it can be a lot more complicated. Because she's not just working with reality and her imagination. She has the AllSpark and its many doors, too. When one of them decides to creak open, flooding her mind with a vision she can't hope to escape, especially while asleep, it might as well be reality. Because, in a way, it is real. What the AllSpark shows her is either something that has happened, is happening, or will happen sometime in the near future.

Ari isn't sure what to make of this one.

Everything is dark and blurry, the details of where she is obscured from her, but she does know that she can't move. Something is pinning her ankles and wrists, something that won't give no matter how much she struggles. She can't tell if it's an actual part of the vision or not, but it worries her all the same.

And then a figure comes out of the darkness. A figure she almost doesn't recognize, but the sadistic smile and the hungry, demented eyes are the same as the last time they loomed over her.

Ron.

He's changed since the trial that was supposed to take him out of her life forever. Something happened to him after Anti-Alien broke him out of prison. He's had work done. His beer belly is gone, along with almost all of his excess fat, making him leaner than she's ever seen him. Plastic surgery has changed his face, the bridge of his nose, the height of his cheekbones, and all together it gives his face a more angled, sinister look. Hair plugs have given him a full head of thick, dark hair again, styled neatly without a single hair out of place. And then there's the three piece suit he wears, looking far more expensive than an escaped prisoner should be able to afford.

He's gained friends in high places, friends who don't want him easily recognized. No wonder he disappeared so effectively. There's been no trace of him since his escape, just like Maxwell and the rest of Anti-Alien. Maybe it's not because he's been in hiding all this time. Maybe he's been hiding in plain sight.

"It won't be long now," he whispers, the same look on his face as when he called her Judy. He reaches out a hand to her, caressing the side of her face with the backs of his fingers. She strains her neck to move away but she can't move far enough. His touch makes her stomach queasy. "It won't be long now."

* * *

Ari sits bolt upright, taking in gasping breaths of air as her heart races. Her eyes dance around her, unable to take in anything but the darkness of the room, but her hands find warm metal beneath her. She latches onto the familiarity of Sideswipe's chassis, using it to calm her breathing and push back the panic and the tears.

It was only a dream. It was only a dream.

But was it?

"Ari?" Sideswipe mumbles behind her and one of his arms wraps around her to hold her steady as he sits up. He must have been awake already, keeping watch, but it wouldn't be the first time one of her nightmares have woken him up either. He has a knack for sensing her anxiety somehow, even in recharge. But this was so much more than a nightmare this time. He seems to understand that, too, because the concern marring his faceplates is deeper than usual. "You okay?"

She just shakes her head, still unable to catch a full breath, and burrows against him. He pulls her closer, a hand cupping the back of her head, making her feel completely surrounded and safe and home. Nothing can get her here, not even any visions or nightmares.

"You're okay, sweetspark," he whispers to her, rocking back and forth slightly. "You're okay. I've got you."

Cocooned in Sideswipe's arms, Ari's heart rate eventually slows and her breathing returns to normal, but she still doesn't say anything, wanting to just sit for a while in the sudden peace after so much fear. Sideswipe doesn't mind, content to just wait her out until she's ready.

"I saw him," she whispers quietly after a while, almost too quiet for even Sideswipe to hear. "I-I was back with Ron. He had me."

Sideswipe's grip on her tightens and he growls, "No fragging way is he getting you back. Not ever. I won't let him. You know that."

"I do, but," she looks up at him, unable to keep her eyes from stretching wide with fear, "this wasn't a nightmare, Sideswipe. I could feel it. This was a vision from one of the doors. And he…he looked so different, like he went through an intense version of the Witness Protection Program. I don't know why, but the AllSpark wanted me to see him as he is now."

"Maybe it's so that you can tell S.H.I.E.L.D. and they can find him easier?"

"Maybe," she murmurs, resting her head against his chassis again. She doesn't know what to think, but she does know that Sideswipe's suggestion doesn't really sound right. If it was, she wouldn't have been part of the vision herself. She would have just been an observer, like she was during the vision of the mission in China, when they learned of the Fallen. But in this, Ron could see her, touch her. Trap her.

And he still thinks he has the right to claim her.

* * *

When dawn is just barely breaking over the horizon, Sideswipe and Ari give up on sleep, instead going to the others with what Ari saw.

Clint and Natasha are unsure how to take it exactly, her visions sound a lot like magic to them, but then again, they've dealt with magic before. They have her sit down with Sunstreaker so he can draw a composite of what Ron looks like now and the two agents send a copy to S.H.I.E.L.D. to run through facial recognition software. If he's out there somewhere, looking like this, they'll find him.

Everyone else is, well, uneasy is too simple a word. They know what her visions mean. Something is coming, something big, and it'll happen fast. And soon. The visions aren't really ever a warning so that they can stop the bad thing from happening, more like a warning that this _is_ coming and they better prepare themselves for what's ahead, because it's going to happen whether they like it or not.

It's not going to be easy. But anything involving Ron is never easy.

They all try to move along like everything is normal. They can't let the traitor know they expect something to happen soon. Ari goes off to training, her two bodyguards keeping close and alert. Clint and Natasha are both out investigating, redoubling their efforts because whether they believe Ari or not, there's still the distinct impression in the air that the sky is about to tear open to rain fire down on them all.

Sideswipe drops her off, pressing a kiss goodbye to her lips, but he doesn't set her down right away, instead just staring at her for a moment. She can see the indecision in his optics, had felt it during their brief share of emotions, and she tilts her head at him.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says, smiling in reassurance. "There's just..."

"What?"

He opens his mouth, trying to form words, but then he shakes his head. "I'll tell you tonight. During our date."

"That's right. That is tonight, isn't it?"

"Yep. Meaning Natasha is probably going to kidnap you right after training and I won't see you 'til tonight."

She giggles. "It'll be worth it I'm sure." Cupping the side of his face with a hand, she leads his head back down to her for another kiss. "See you tonight."

"See you tonight. I love you."

She smiles softly. "I love you too."

He finally lets her down and she watches him as he wheels away, wondering what he was going to say. But if it's something he's not going to tell her until the date, it's probably something good. She felt nervousness from him, not anxiety.

She shrugs and heads into the main hanger to start her day of training. Whatever it is, she'll find out eventually.

Things are going good for the blue team. They're two points ahead of the red team now and going strong. Ferrel and her team are not happy, made apparent in their hostility and ruthlessness during the fighting.

But when they hear an explosion, Ari can't help but think that they're going a little too far.

"What the frag are they doing?" Evie asks from her position behind a broken wall, peeking over the top to get eyes on what's going on. "Are there seriously explosives in this place?"

"Knowing Wheeljack, I wouldn't be surprised," Ari says, and then they hear another explosion. Only, they can't actually see it. No fire, no plumes of smoke. It's close though. Another goes off and Ari suddenly realizes that, even though it's close, it still sounds too far away to be coming from inside the building.

The whistle blows shrill and urgent throughout the hanger. They exchange nervous glances before all of them quickly jog to gather near the hanger doors. Welles is there waiting for them but there is no sign of Ironhide.

"What's going on?" Ari asks, already dreading that she knows the answer.

"It's Anti-Alien," Welles says, face grim. "They're attacking the base."

All the recruits speak up at once to ask questions but Ari doesn't bother. She just darts outside to see for herself.

Several vehicles that look like military hummers have rolled up to the base, the blazing red insignia of Anti-Alien painted on the sides. Some of them have large machine guns that are manned and firing at the Autobots. Dozens of other Anti-Alien members are fanned out and firing as well, looking well-armed, well-outfitted, and well-trained.

There's fire and blood and pain and destruction everywhere. A continuous sound of gunfire, making her ears ring. Just like Mission City. Just like Egypt. Only this time there are no Decepticons.

How can an organization that only had a couple dozen members turn into _this_ in just a few months?

There's another explosion, bringing Ari's attention to one of several RPGs, and she sees that the plume of smoke dangerously close to Bumblebee. She takes off at a run towards the fighting only to be caught around the middle after just a few steps.

"And where do you think you're going?" Clint's voice says in her ear. Where did he even come from?

"Let me go," she growls, struggling to get away. She knows she can if she really wants to, but that would involve hurting him.

"There's nothing you can do for them."

"Yes, I can! I can fight, we can all fight, it's what we've been training for."

"Training none of you have finished yet." He lets her go only to turn her around, keeping his hands firm on her shoulders and bending his head down to look her in the eye. "Look, there's no reason for any of you to risk yourselves in a fight that will be over soon anyway. I know it looks bad, but this is a fool's errand for Anti-Alien. There's no way they're gonna overpower all of N.E.S.T. with what they brought and there's nowhere near enough of them. Everything's gonna be okay."

Ari's jaw clenches but she doesn't try to run off again when he lets her go, especially when Natasha materializes beside him, duffel bag in hand, and arches a brow at her like she's just daring Ari to try it.

But something doesn't feel right. Her vision last night…this can't be a coincidence.

There's an explosion much closer to them this time and they all instinctively duck as they turn to see a piece of the training hanger roof caving in from the RPG. Five more hummers are rolling to towards them, probably aiming to come in from the side to force the soldiers and Autobots to retreat into the main hanger and corner them in.

But they stand right in the way.

"Alright, everyone move out!" Clint calls out. "Get to the main hanger as fast as you can and head for the training room. You should be safe in there."

If they can make it that far. There's still a lot of fighting to get through, but when Anti-Alien starts firing their machine guns at the recruits they all take off, left with no real choice. Mirage sees them coming first and changes the aim of his blaster to cover their approach, allowing them to slip inside the main hanger.

Ari's not sure if they all make it or not, doesn't dare to look over her shoulder to find out.

Clint and Natasha stop at the doors, turning to face the fight and make sure they all get inside safely. She can instantly see the shift from their covers Natalie Rushman and William Brandt to Hawkeye and Black Widow, only pronounced as Clint takes the duffel bag from Natasha and opens it to extract his bow and quiver of arrows.

It does little to reassure her, though, because when Ari frantically looks around she sees no sign of Sideswipe or Sunstreaker.

Before she can follow the others towards the training room, a hand grabs her arm and she turns to see Lando and Blake, her bodyguards on duty when all of this started, along with Welles.

"We need to get you to the safe room," Lando says, pulling her in the opposite direction of everyone else.

"What safe room?" Ari asks, jerking her arm free. "I'm not going anywhere!" The training room means the gun range, which means weapons. If she can get to the weapons in time, maybe she can still help, Clint be slagged. Her boyfriend, for lack of a better term, is out there somewhere and she plans on having his back like she promised.

"Wheeljack built a safe room for you in the Med Bay under Optimus's orders shortly after his arrival. If the base is ever compromised, our orders are to get you to that safe room and lock you inside until the crisis is over."

Ari bristles. She is going to have words with that mech about keeping things from her. "Is this because I was kidnapped the last time the base was attacked?"

"Lennox, you are the AllSpark," Welles says, more sincere than she's ever heard him before. "Protecting you is our main priority, for all of us. Neither the Decepticons, nor Anti-Alien, can be allowed to get their hands on you." He turns his eyes to the passing recruits and calls out, "Ferrel! DeMarco!"

They both stop, ready to fight if that's what they're being called to do, unafraid of the battle happening just outside. "What do you need, sir?" Trent asks.

"The two of you are to help Lando and Blake escort Lennox to the safe room," Welles explains, handing over his pistol to Trent. "You make sure she gets in there and you protect her no matter what, understood?"

Trent nods. "Yes, sir."

Ferrel doesn't say anything but nods as well, taking the pistol Blake hands her. She doesn't look happy about the order but it's still an order, one not even she is willing to go against.

Blake and Lando slide their automatic weapons around on their straps across their chests to grip them in their hands, clicking the safeties off of both guns. "Alright," Blake says, "Let's roll out."

Welles continues on with the rest of the recruits to look after them and Ari reluctantly follows Lando to the Med Bay, the others forming a guard around her. It's four against one. No way is she getting a chance to help everyone else now, unless she wants to take Blake's gun because of course nobody gives _her_ a gun. She does still have her tactical gear on, but it's pointless hurting them when everyone else is so sure that Anti-Alien will fall here.

Sideswipe better be okay. She prays to Primus that he's okay.

They come barreling into the empty Med Bay and Lando leads them to the wall underneath the platform for human patients, running a hand along the wall until he finds an almost invisible depression in the bricks. He pushes it and a panel slides up to reveal a key pad. After punching in the code a section of wall opens up into a doorway barely wide enough for Trent's shoulders to pass through, but there's no way a Cybertronian hand can reach through it very far either. The five of them slip inside and Lando pushes a button on the wall to shut the doors behind them.

The room is relatively small, built for safety more than comfort, with a single cot, a cabinet full of provisions, and another doorway leading to a small bathroom. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made out of metal, Cybertronian metal if she had to guess. This is more of a bunker than a safe room, though that's probably the point. They don't want to take any chances.

"So now what?" Ari asks, plopping down on the cot with her arms crossed.

"Now we wait," Blake says, taking up position at one side of the door like the guards at Buckingham Palace.

"Seriously? That's it?"

"Yep," Lando says, taking the other side of the door. "We wait until the threat is cleared and we hear word from Optimus over the comms."

"There's not even some way for us to watch what's happening?" She wants to know what's going on, what's to know that Sideswipe is alright. She'd use her pendant but is afraid of distracting anyone.

Lando shakes his head. "No, nothing like that. Maybe you can talk to Wheeljack and get him to set up a T.V. in here, get it connected to the security system or something. But there's nothing we can do about it now."

Ferrel huffs, tucking her pistol into the empty holster on her thigh, and starts taking off her tactical gear. "Most boring assignment ever. I was hoping to at least see some action on the way here."

Trent rolls his eyes, sitting on the floor at the foot of the cot. "You heard Agent Brant. We're only still recruits. None of us have been in an actual fight before. Pit, none of us have even _killed_ anyone before. If these training sessions we've been doing in the hanger have taught me anything, it's that we're not ready yet."

Ari blinks at him in surprise. "That's...Wow, that was actually kind of adult-ish of you."

He chuckles, looking up at her, strangely enough, apologetically. "Well, we've all gotta grow up sometime. I think I'm finally starting to."

She grins. "Well, it's about fragging time. What changed?"

He sobers, holding his gun in his hands on his lap and looking down at it like he's seeing it, feeling the weight of it, for the first time. "Seeing what happened with Moonracer and how you saved her. It made me realize that this isn't just a game. This isn't football where the worst that can happen is bruises or broken bones. It made me realize that there is a very real possibility that I could die in this war. And I also realized that the Autobots are...real." His eyes move up to her, looking far older than when she knew him in high school. "They're actual people, not just robots. I don't think I realized that until then. She was dying and everyone was scared of it. Her...Her sisters were terrified of losing her, but then you were there and you healed her. You care about them, too, as real people."

She swallows heavily. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I care about them a lot. They're my family."

"And Sideswipe. You really love him, don't you?"

"Yes."

He nods, like he already knew the answer before asking. "You're important to them. They care about you, too, so do all the other N.E.S.T. soldiers. And it's more than just the AllSpark stuff, though seeing that for the first time was kind of freaky and awesome at the same time."

A laugh escapes her on a breath. "Yeah, it's definitely taken some getting used to."

"I can only imagine. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're important, more important than I ever really treated you and I'm sorry for that.

An apology, a real apology, from Trent DeMarco. Now there is something Ari thought would never happen. She thought he would always be the stuck-up, prideful, self-absorbed boy she knew in high school, but being here, in N.E.S.T., it's changed him, and in some really good ways. He really has grown up. It's something she didn't expect to see.

But she's glad she's gotten the chance to.

"Thank you, Trent," Ari says. "You know, you're not so bad once you take the stick out of your aft."

He laughs, unlike the biting retort a part of her had been expecting. "Yeah, I did some pretty...uncool things to you. I'm sorry about that too."

She smiles. "Apology accepted."

A beeping noise starts and they all look up curiously, unsure where it's coming from. "Oh, that's me," Lando says with a slight chuckle, looking down at the digital watch on his left wrist. He presses a button to silence the alarm. "So, this has been a lovely chat but..."

Before anyone can react, Lando fires his rifle at Bryant, shooting him in the head and the soldier crumbles to the ground like a porcelain doll. Ari jumps in shock, staring wide-mouthed as Lando then grabs Ferrel before she can bring her gun up. He easily takes the gun from the recruit and wrestles her until her back is pressed against his front and he has her trapped in a choke hold, Ferrel's pistol now pressed against her temple. Trent has his own gun pointed at him now, but Lando shows no remorse in using Ferrel as a human shield.

"Lando, what are you doing?" Ari asks in horror, unbelieving at what Lando just did.

And what it means.

"It had to be done," Lando says, no trace of kindness left in his face. Instead, there's an overwhelming sadness in him that fuels determination. "I really wish Welles didn't have the two of you come with us though." He looks from Ferrel in his arms to Trent, flicking the safety off the pistol with his thumb.

"Put the gun down," Trent demands, his gun still steadily pointed at Lando, "and let Ferrel go. Now."

"I'm sorry, DeMarco, but that's not happening. I have a mission to complete and you're both in my way."

"Please, Lando, you don't have to do this," Ari pleads, standing up, but then Lando points his gun at her and she freezes.

"Yes, I do have to do this. Those alien _scum_ have done nothing but destroy cities and kill humans since they got here. They're evil and they must be destroyed."

"You know that's not entirely true. The Autobots are good and are only here to help. It's the Decepticons who are evil."

"They are not here to help!" Lando yells, an intense grief burning in his eyes. "Autobot, Decepticon, it doesn't matter. They both killed people that day in Mission City."

Ari flinches. She had always figured there were human deaths, collateral as the government likes to call them. But it's always like that in war. It's one of its ugly truths and it's unavoidable no matter how much anyone tries to prevent it. So for him to get worked up like this, it can only mean one thing, and she asks quietly, "Who did you lose?"

He swallows heavily, his Adam's-apple bobbing, but his gun doesn't waver. "My wife and little boy. I was away on tour when it happened. Two of those...those _things_ were fighting and fell into our apartment building. They were crushed in the rubble."

"I'm sorry," she whispers, stifling her confusion on hearing his son is dead. She's seen him talking on the phone with his son before. But it looks like it wasn't his son he was talking to.

"No, you're not," Lando growls. "If you were you would be helping me, helping _us_."

"Us?" Trent asks.

"He's the traitor," Ari clarifies before Lando has a chance to. "He's been helping Anti-Alien. That's how they've been able to sneak on base and that's how they knew where N.E.S.T. was going to be when Moonracer got hurt."

"You've got to be fragging kidding me," Trent spits out, glaring murderously at Lando. "I thought you were on our side!"

"I've never been on your side," Lando says darkly, shifting his weapon back to Trent. "Now drop the gun."

Trent grips the gun tighter, unsure what to do.

"Don't do it," Ferrel struggles to get out around Lando's arm choking at her neck. "Shoot him."

"I wouldn't advise that." Lando presses the gun against the side of Ferrel's head. "Drop the gun. Now. I won't ask again."

Trent just stands there for a second, frustrated, but they can both see that Lando isn't bluffing so he lowers his arm and drops the gun to the floor.

"Good. Now kick it towards me."

Trent does as he's told, kicking the gun so that it slides to a stop at Lando's and Ferrel's feet. As soon as it stops, Ferrel moves, breaking herself out of Lando's grip and going for the gun.

But she doesn't make it before two bangs go off and she falls to the floor, eyes still open, lifeless, and red blossoming at the back of her head.

Ari covers her mouth with her hand, stifling a gasp. She's never liked Ferrel. A part of her has even always wondered if she was the traitor because of her obvious disdain for Ari. She's wanted her gone, but despite everything, she didn't want Ferrel dead.

And Ferrel died trying to protect her.

"How could you?" Ari says, eyes brimming with tears. "You say you and your organization want to protect humans by getting rid of the aliens, but how is killing humans protecting us?"

"It's a waste to be sure," Lando says, looking regretfully down at Ferrel's body. "I often thought about trying to recruit Ferrel to our cause. She had such potential. But I couldn't risk blowing my cover. Our cause in greater than one life, or the lives of the men and women on this base." He points his gun at Trent again. " _You_ are the real traitors, going against your own kind to side with these aliens. But for you, Ari, I guess it really isn't betraying your own kind, is it? Are you even human anymore, after what the AllSpark has done to you?"

Ari doesn't say anything. Honestly, she's really not sure how to answer it.

"Now come here," Lando orders, using his other hand to reach into the pocket of his cargo pants. He pulls out a syringe filled with a yellow liquid. "I know you're resistant to most sedatives, but we put together this cocktail just for you. It'd keep someone like Captain Rogers knocked out for a few hours so it should work nicely on you."

Ari starts to move forward but Trent grabs her arm. "Ari, don't do this."

She looks back at him hopelessly. "What choice do I have?"

She won't let Trent die for her too.

Gently, she takes Trent's hand off of her and goes to Lando, who then takes the cap off the needle with his teeth and drives it into her neck. She doesn't even flinch, staring into Trent's eyes as she feels the cool drugs begin to swim through her system. Things start to get a little fuzzy pretty quickly.

"Oh, and one more thing." Lando reaches for her neck and yanks her pendant off of her, throwing it to the ground and crushing it with his boot. "Don't want anybody following us. Anti-Alien has plans for you."

She fights against the drowsiness but it still drags her down, turning her legs to jelly. She falls to the floor, her head slamming against the metal beneath her.

The last thing she sees is Lando striking Trent's head with the butt of the gun, knocking him out. Relief floods her before the darkness pulls her the rest of the way down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm a horrible person. But it had to come eventually, Anti-Alien making their move. Things are going to get messy and the climax for this story arc is coming fast, as is the next movie.
> 
> Anyway, other stuff. Is Trent's change of heart believable? The military, it can change people, and that's kind of what I wanted to happen with Trent. I never wanted him to stay the aftpipe he was. I've always been soft on stories where Trent turns good.
> 
> And Ferrel! Ari is a lot better person than me because I was absolutely happy to kill her off.
> 
> Then last, but certainly not least, the traitor. Anyone see it coming?
> 
> Next chapter we get to see how both Ari and Sideswipe are holding up. And our mysterious benefactor makes an appearance.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	58. The Waiting Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5/6 for today.
> 
> Sorry, but Ari isn't getting saved this chapter. We've got stuff to do before that can happen. Lots of stuff.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The darkness is cloying, but for once Ari doesn't want it to let her go. Her mind may not be fully with it yet, however, her instincts are screaming at her that something is not right. She is not with Sideswipe. She is not in their room. The closer to wakefulness she gets, the more she can feel the thin mattress beneath her, the chill in the air, and the abandoned emptiness of the room.

She is not in a safe place. Not at all.

Her eyes crack open just slightly, unsure what it is she's waking into exactly, but she at the very least doesn't feel any other presences in the room with her. She's alone.

But that doesn't mean no one is watching.

She remembers Lando turning out to be the traitor. Ferrel dying. Trent struck unconscious. The needle jabbing into her skin.

Anti-Alien has taken her. The attack on the base was nothing more than a distraction.

They took her for a reason, though. They're interested in her, that much has been obvious for quite some time. They're not just going to shove her in a corner and forget about her. But _why_ do they want her? For what purpose?

If she can find that out, maybe she can use it to her advantage, use it to help her get out of here.

In the meantime, she goes through inventory. Her pendant is gone, as are her bracelets, unfortunately. Lando would have been all too aware of what they're capable of. Her tactical gear is gone, leaving her in the beige shirt, khaki pants, and boots of her recruit uniform. A slight movement of her limbs proves she is not bound in any way, so at least that's something.

But she is in a cell.

It's small, concrete, with one of those rectangular lights like what they have in schools. There are no windows and there is only a single, steel door with a thin hatch at the bottom that probably opens as a slot to slip things through. The room itself is relatively bare. There's the mattress she's lying on, just a mattress on the floor, no bed frame, and there's a toilet with a curtain for some privacy.

Which is a real blessing considering the camera looking down on her from one corner of the ceiling.

It's too high up for her to reach so there's no chance of disabling it. In any case, even if she could disable it that probably wouldn't help her. If someone is constantly watching her, which there probably is at least one person at all times, then taking that camera out would just make them come running. No, if she has to try getting out of here on her own, she'll have to wait until they take her somewhere else and she finds out just how careful they're being with her.

From the looks of that steel door, she definitely isn't getting out of this room by herself. It's bolted shut from the outside with no way to pick the lock or mess with the hinges from in here. The only way through that door is if someone opens it from the other side. There's an air vent that looks promising, she's found out from their stories that Clint has an obsession with moving around through air vents in order to sneak up on people, so the vent could get her out of here.

Then again, camera. If someone is watching her, she probably wouldn't get very far, even if she manages to get the grate off in time.

So she sits up on the mattress and waits until someone comes for her.

She tries counting the seconds at first, anything just to keep her mind busy, to keep her from thinking of her fear. It doesn't work very well, though, just makes her wonder how long she's been here and what the others are doing.

They'll find her. They have to. But how long will it take? She doesn't have her pendant. There's no way to track where she's gone, unless Anti-Alien was sloppy and left a trail, but nothing about Anti-Alien has been sloppy lately. They're meticulous and careful and crazy good at hiding in plain sight.

Lando is a testament to that.

But she has S.H.I.E.L.D. on her side. Clint and Natasha, and Phil too, will be using all the resources of S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to find her. Director Nick Fury will back them up because, at the very least, he understands Ari's importance.

She is the AllSpark. Their enemies can't be allowed to have her. If they find a way to use her power, the results could be catastrophic. As far as they know, Anti-Alien's main goal is to make all aliens leave Earth for good. Most likely, she'll be used to meet that end goal.

But at what cost?

There's a heavy thunk that comes from the door, the bolt being slid open, and Ari scrambles to her feet, hands clenched at her sides. As soon as she sees her chance, she'll take it. All she has to do is make it out of this room, grab a weapon if possible, and find the exit. She's a trained soldier. She can fight her way out of this, especially since they probably aren't willing to kill her. They need her for something.

Doesn't mean they won't hurt her though.

The door opens and in steps Allen Maxwell, leader of Anti-Alien and her "host". He's different than she remembers. She saw him for the first time on the news and back then he looked like any other average citizen, but now he looks more refined. His sandy hair isn't messy anymore, it's freshly trimmed and slicked back. He's not wearing an Anti-Alien T-shirt like she saw him wearing on the news. Now, he's wearing a three piece, charcoal gray suit. His glasses are new, too, not the cheap drugstore kind but the sort that costs a ridiculous amount of money.

Maxwell has taken advantage of the money he's being funneled. She wonders if his benefactor really approves.

"Good, you're awake," Maxwell says with a polite smile, two heavily armed men coming into the room along with him. One of them shuts the door but she doesn't hear the lock sliding back into place. She can take Maxwell, easy, it's easy to see he's still scrawny beneath the nice clothes, but the other two are big. They could go for a gun or knife before she ever gets close. "It's about time. I thought you had some sort of advanced healing?"

Her heart squeezes slightly, thinking of how Lando was probably the one to tell him that. "I do," she replies, trying to mimic the blank agent mask she's seen on Natasha and Phil. "But even I have my limits. I think your man used enough sedatives to kill a small herd of elephants."

He smirks. "Well, Lando told me it would be necessary. Not a whole lot can bring you down." He steps further into the room, stopping only two feet from her with a wide stance and hands stuffed in his pockets. He's all fluffed up superiority and mocking smiles. "What was it like, being betrayed by someone you trusted?"

It hurt. A lot. She didn't think it was Lando, not by a longshot. But she just focuses on breathing steadily through her nose and keeps her face neutral. "We knew there had to be a traitor somewhere within N.E.S.T. It didn't really matter who it turned out to be."

"Sure. Let yourself believe that. But I think we both know you're not really so indifferent." He nods his head to one of the men who then goes to the door to let someone else in.

Lando.

Gone is his N.E.S.T. uniform. Now he's wearing a plain black T-shirt and cargo pants, like he's still trying to pull off being in the military when he's not, not anymore. He's part of this crazy circus Maxwell has going on and he looks completely at ease here, leaning casually against the wall.

"Come on, tell me what it's like," Maxwell taunts. "He betrayed you, turned his back on you. Does it sting, that break of trust?" Suddenly, the smiles are gone, replaced by a rage that could rival Megatron's hatred for humans. "Well, that's how we feel!" he bellows, stabbing his finger towards her, forcing her to step on the mattress on the floor in order to back up to the wall. "You and N.E.S.T. and the government and the entire freaking world! You all betrayed us! You betrayed humanity!" His hand goes to her throat, not really squeezing, just holding her against the wall. "You allow those freaks to stay here and for what? Huh? For what? All they ever do for us in return is kill more people!"

"That's not true," Ari says desperately, looking from Maxwell to Lando. "Please, you know that's not true. Lando, you've been out with the Autobots. You've hung out with them. They've sworn to _protect_ humanity. Please, Lando, you can't believe this lunatic!"

Lando pushes off the wall and snaps, "He's not a lunatic. He's my best friend." He steps up beside Maxwell and places a hand on his shoulder. "We grew up in the same orphanage. I...I used to think he was crazy, too, what with all the alien theories. As time went on he got consumed by them. I joined the army and we drifted apart for a while. But then Mission City happened and I realized he was right. He's always been right. When I got offered to join N.E.S.T. I knew what it had to be about. There was talk and they weren't being nearly as secretive as they thought they were. I told Alex right away and we decided I would join to get a closer look."

"People still didn't believe us at first," Maxwell continues, hand enclosing further around her neck. "But then Egypt happened and we got noticed. I mean, we got really noticed and by some pretty powerful people."

"You mean the one who gave you all the weapons?" Ari grounds out, looking him stubbornly in the eye. "Does your mysterious benefactor know you're wasting his money on clothes for yourself?"

He grins. "You can ask him yourself soon enough. Dylan Gould has shown an interest and would like to meet you. He should be arriving later tonight in his private helicopter."

Dylan Gould.

So that's his name. But who is he? She's never heard of him before. It tends to be difficult for rich men to stay out of the limelight but this man has remained an absolute ghost. Granted, she doesn't know the name of _every_ rich man in the world but it seems Gould has gone through extra trouble not to get noticed.

"Who is he?" she demands. "What does he want? Why is he helping you?"

"He believes in our cause, of course. He believes every alien should be swept off the face of the planet by any means necessary and he's willing to pay the price to see that it gets done." He leans his face in close to hers and she turns her head as far away as she is able. For a newly rich man himself, his breath reeks something awful. "Now, you sit tight and wait for Mr. Gould. I expect you to be on your best behavior when he gets here."

"Not likely."

In one swift motion she kicks him in the groin and pushes him back, toppling him over backwards as he groans in pain, hands moving to protect his private parts from further damage. She steps forward intending to deliver that damage when Lando and the two burley men move to intercept. One man reaches out to grab her but she ducks under his arm, punches him in the kidney, and kicks him in the back of the knee to send him down next to Maxwell. She sees the other man step in behind her and she thrusts an elbow back into his face, feeling his nose crunch. He howls in pain, blood spilling down his face, but she gives him no time to recover, whirling around to punch him in the face and knee him in the gut. He bends over with a grunt and she brings her hands together, lacing her fingers, and brings her combined fists down on the back of his head. He drops like a stone and she turns to face the last person in the room.

But she's not fast enough.

Before she can throw her next punch at Lando he grabs her arm to keep her fist from landing. Not about to let that stop her, she brings her leg back to kick, but then the first big guy she took out gets back up and grabs her around the middle from behind. She kicks out anyway but misses when the guy holding her lifts her off her feet and swings her out of the way.

Then Maxwell comes out of nowhere and plunges another needle into her neck.

Tears brim in her eyes as the darkness takes her again, hoping, praying, that Sideswipe finds her soon.

* * *

It's been twenty-four hours and Sideswipe hasn't recharged at all.

Ari may not be bonded to him as his sparkmate but it doesn't feel like his spark knows that. He feels torn open and empty inside, like when he got shot and almost died.

This is worse than when Ari got taken last time. He didn't know what it was like to have her before. He didn't know what it was like to be truly loved by her before or to be able to act on his love for her.

He can't lose her. He can't lose her.

Security footage shows them what happened. Lando killed Bryant and Ferrel, landed Trent in the Med Bay, and took Ari, sneaking out with the Anti-Alien troops just as they were pulling back.

Lando is the traitor, someone Sideswipe trusted, someone all of them trusted. He'd been with them since almost the beginning. How could he be with them for _years_ only to eventually turn his back on them?

Natasha tries to explain it, that in a deep cover operation like this a person mimics the feelings without ever actually truly feeling them, but Sideswipe tunes her out, just stares at the paused security footage on the computer screen in the War Room, at the picture of Ari slumped over Lando's shoulder.

The engagement ring burns in the compartment of his left arm, the ring he was going to present to her that night during their date. Does he even still have the right to ask her to marry him? How many times has he lost her now? How many times has he failed her? He can't keep her safe. He can't protect her as a husband or sparkmate should. She deserves someone better than him, someone who can see the danger before it happens, someone who can keep her from being taken ever again.

" _Don't go down that road, mech,"_ Sunstreaker tells him over their bond even though he's standing right next to him. _"You'll just spiral if you keep thinking like that. All of us failed her, not just you. We all trusted the wrong person when we shouldn't have been trusting anyone at all. But focusing on what we_ _ **should**_ _have done isn't going to help her, alright? Just focus on finding her. Everything else can come after."_

Sideswipe knows his brother is right, but it's hard to just accept it when he feels like he failed her _so much_. But it doesn't stop him from helping to look for her. Clint, Natasha, and Phil have S.H.I.E.L.D. and all their resources using face recognition and satellites and a million other things all scanning for any sign of Ari or Anti-Alien. Ratchet and Wheeljack work together on a wide-range scanner to search for the AllSpark signature Ari puts out since her pendant is in pieces.

And Sideswipe drives, using his own scanners to try and find her the old fashioned way. He looks for her AllSpark signature, but there are also other things. He has everything about her memorized. Her voice. Her height. Her heartbeat. The way she walks. Even her heat signature, which is a couple degrees hotter than the average human, has been that way since the AllSpark changes. He uses all of it to search for her, driving from one city to the next, but he doesn't do it alone.

Will goes with him, sitting in the passenger's seat without needing to be asked because they both know that seat behind the wheel belongs to Ari and no one else. There's nothing much that Will can actually do, just come along for the ride and sit in silence since neither of them feel up to talking, but Sideswipe knows he feels it too. The sense that they failed her and the restlessness to get her back even though there's nothing either of them can do. They have all the best people on it and there's nothing they can do to help.

Just this, driving down as many streets as possible for hours and hours without stopping.

But then they hit the twenty-four hour mark, twenty-four hours since she's been taken, and there's still no trace of her. Not within the state of Nevada, not that they can see.

::Sideswipe,:: someone says over the comm link but he ignores it, just keeps driving. He doesn't let Will hear it either, though even if he did filter the transmission into his speakers Will still wouldn't hear it. Exhaustion finally took him about two hours ago.

Lucky human.

::Sideswipe, I know you can hear me,:: the person says again, a voice he finally registers as Natasha's. They must be really desperate now. Optimus has been trying to get him to return to base for the past eighteen hours. Sunny for the past ten. There were threats that Ironhide would be sent to drag him back but they obviously haven't decided to follow through on it yet.

Right now, that's the only thing that will make him stop looking. He has to find her. He has to.

::Fine,:: Natasha says in exasperation, ::if you don't want to talk, then just listen. I know you're beating yourself up over Ari getting taken. You aren't the only one. Clint and I failed her too. We were supposed to find the traitor. That was our mission and we failed. That red is going to be staining our ledgers for a long time. But that's not what's important right now, finding Ari is, so you need to suck it up and stop wallowing in self-pity.::

::Tasha, I'm not sure that's helping,:: Clint's voice comes in. Great, it's a party line apparently.

::He needs to hear it. He needs to get his head out of his aft if he's going to help her.::

::I am helping her,:: Sideswipe growls, his first words all day. ::I'm doing everything I can to find her.::

::Do you really think this is helping?:: Natasha asks. ::Pushing yourself to exhaustion?::

::Cybertronians can go a long time without needing to recharge. I'm fine.::

::And what about Lennox? You may be fine to keep going like this, but what about him? He's human, Sideswipe. Humans are a lot more fragile and aren't capable of keeping this up like you are.::

Sideswipe's scanner sweeps over Will again. Still asleep.

::Will is fine,:: Sideswipe snaps. ::He's sleeping.::

::But when did you last stop for a break? _Have_ you, at all? He'll burn out at this rate, Sideswipe. Do you really think Ari would want that?::

No. Ari wouldn't want that. This is her father. She'd be worried if she could see him right now. ::Fine, I'll return to base and drop him off, but I can't just stop. I have to find her.::

::You can and you will. What if we're able to locate her while you're out gallivanting around and you end up being in the complete opposite direction of where she's being held?::

::Or I'll be the closest person to her and can get to her faster.::

::Do you really want to take that chance?::

Sideswipe is silent, unsure how to respond. Is that a chance he's willing to take? They have absolutely no idea where she is. She could be on the other side of the country by now for all they know. Once they find some trace of her, they may need to take off in the plane as soon as possible and Sideswipe would have to miss it if he's not on base.

But what if she's somewhere close by, right now, and if he just keeps looking a little bit longer he'll find her?

She starts to say something in Russian, not something pretty from the sounds of it, when there's a muffled struggle over the radio and Clint's voice comes through. ::Look, just come in for right now. Drop Will off, get some recharge yourself, and if you still want to keep looking for her by yourself, you can.::

Sideswipe knows this is probably a trap, they're spies after all. They'll lure him back and then they won't let him leave again.

He should drop of Will, though. They're right, this isn't good for him. Sideswipe can't even remember if they _had_ taken a break at all. Besides, if this doesn't work, then they probably will send Ironhide after him.

::Alright,:: he says with a reluctant sigh. ::We're coming back.::

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we got our first glimpse of the third movie approaching. Dylan Gould. We'll be meeting him next chapter and that's all I'm going to say about that.
> 
> Obviously, Ari and Sides are having a hard time dealing, especially Sides. And let me tell you, things are going to get much, much worse before they ever get better.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!


	59. Nightmares and Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6/6 for today so this is the last one and I'm all caught up.
> 
> Things are definitely getting good, and by good, I mean things are going to get really, really bad for Ari before they ever get better. But don't worry, she'll get out of this. Eventually.
> 
> So, we finally get to meet Dylan Gould, our mysterious benefactor. Lol, let me know what you think of him. ;)
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

When Ari comes awake again she groans internally. This sedative stuff is getting old real fast but at least the experience wasn't a total loss. She may still be stuck in her cell but now she knows coming at them head on isn't an option. She has to use stealth, slip out when no one is watching, take out any obstacles in her way as quietly as possible. These aren't just civilians she's dealing with. They're trained and they're smart to take precautions.

But they're not smart enough.

They just left her after she dropped from the drugs, so they didn't notice that she didn't get out of the scuffle empty handed.

Carefully, she palms the small cuff link still in her hand. Trying to act as casually as possible she moves to sit on the mattress and stuffs both her hands in her pockets. The cuff link could be useful for picking locks, maybe undoing the screws on an air vent. Not all that helpful right now since she needs a place without a camera or at least a way to barricade the door, but it may come in handy if they ever decide to take her somewhere else.

Will they take her somewhere else? Or just leave her here to rot?

What do they want with her?

She shakes her head at herself. No, that's not going to help her. She'll find out soon enough. There's no point worrying about it until she knows what it is she should be worrying about.

Instead, she does some deep breathing exercises Clint taught her. He uses them when he's out on mission and fixing to take the shot. They help her to calm her body down, settle her nerves, slow her heartbeat, and clear her thoughts. Once her head is relatively empty, she closes her eyes and imagines she's sitting in the place she feels safest.

With Sideswipe, that's where she feels safe, resting in his arms as they look out over that cliff with the single tree, staring into the darkness and up at the stars. It's easy to imagine the warm, strong metal of his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. It's a place she's been many times.

She wishes she were there now. She wishes she were home. She should have fought harder to be able to fight alongside the soldiers and Autobots. She shouldn't have let Welles and Lando and the others stop her, even if it meant hurting them.

She should have just gone to find Sideswipe like she wanted to. Then maybe two people wouldn't be dead and she wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

But Sideswipe will come for her. He'll save her. And if that doesn't work, if he's unable to find her before Anti-Alien can do whatever it is they're planning, well, maybe it's about time she saved herself for once instead of always being the damsel in distress.

Ari sits in her safe place for several hours, the only sign of the passage of time being the meals she's brought through the slot at the bottom of the door. She's gotten two so far, a sandwich and then a bowl of gruel of some kind, maybe soup, and a cup of water with each. The chefs here are worse than the ones back at N.E.S.T.

Or maybe they just don't care about her so much here.

She thinks about refusing the food at first, who knows what they put in it, but then she figures it probably best to keep up her strength. When the time comes, she needs to be able to move.

The food is as disgusting as it looks, the toilet just as bad when her bladder finally demands hard enough that she use it, but she puts up with it all.

This isn't forever, she reminds herself. Things may feel pretty hopeless right not, but she'll get out of here, one way or another.

She's not sure what time it is when she hears the bolt slide open again. Based on the meals, a sandwich for lunch and soup for dinner, it might be late evening, but it's hard to tell. There are no windows and they haven't turned off the light in her cell to signify nighttime or anything.

Unless they've just been waiting for her visitor.

She stands as the door swings open, ready to face this Dylan Gould, but it's not him at the door. It's two A.A. guards, different than the ones from before, plus Lando. The two men each step into the room and grab both her forearms, dragging her out roughly so she stumbles.

"Where are you taking me?" she asks Lando but he doesn't answer, just turns and leads them down a concrete hallway a lot like her cell. There are a couple of other doors, cells if she had to guess, and then at the end of the hallway are some stairs.

They climb up, go through the door at the top, and exit into another hallway, the concrete gone now. Instead, there are linoleum floors and walls painted a neutral beige, like some kind of office building. There are doors in this hallway, too, and she manages to peek through one that's open. Inside is a desk, bookshelves, and office chairs.

Yep. She's in an office building, but what kind of office building would have a dungeon in the basement? At least, she assumes that was the basement. She could be a hundred floors up for all she knows, especially since they just walked past an elevator. Lando doesn't take them to it, though, just keeps walking down the hallway, turns a corner, and finally stops at a door that looks like all the others. He turns the handle and holds the door open for them so they can go inside.

Ari balks at what she sees. This isn't an office. This room has been converted into some sort of medical suite.

There's a counter with a sink and cabinets to the left, a red trash can for "hazardous materials" right next to it. In the center of the room is a hospital bed, I.V. stand already set up with a bag, and a small metal table with a tray full of surgical tools.

To the right there is a hard plastic chair where a man in a white lab coat sits, head bald, face creased, and large round glasses perched on his nose. His eyes are a muddy brown and they bore into her with a methodical curiosity that sets her teeth on edge.

Ari struggles against the hands holding her, wishing she had her blades. "What is this?"

"I am Dr. Schmidt," the guy in the lab coat says as he stands, accent thick. German, she thinks. "Please, lie down and do try to relax. Zee less you shtruggle, zee less painful your time here vill be."

She really doesn't like the sound of that, it just makes her struggle even more, but the grips on her arms are bruising and together they're more than strong enough to force her onto the bed. She kicks and screams, even though there's no one to hear her who would care, while they handcuff her wrists to the metal railing on either side of the bed. Once they're done, they move to her feet, barely avoiding her kicks, and tie her ankles to the end of the bed with rope.

She pulls against the cuffs and ropes, desperate to get out, but neither give. The only thing her struggles do is hurt herself, her wrists and ankles already starting to turn red, so she abruptly stops, chest heaving with gasping breaths.

"What do you want with me?" Ari demands, focused on the doctor since this seems to be his domain.

He smiles and steps closer to her bed, hands clasped behind his back. "You are here to help in zee Anti-Alien cause. Vee vill use you to gather information."

"What kind of information?"

"Veaknesses. Veapons. Vat your inventor has been up to lately." Worry spikes through Ari and Dr. Schmidt's smile widens. "Yes, vee know vat zee one called Wheeljack has been up to lately. He has found a vay to produce energon, an energy source far superior to anythink found on Earth."

"I thought Anti-Alien just wanted to get rid of Cybertronians? Why do you care about energon?"

Lando is the one who answers, "It's one of Mr. Gould's conditions to financing us. He's wants the energon, not us."

"So why take me? Why not just go after the machine?"

"Because you are shtill more valuable zan just zee machine," Dr. Schmidt says. "You can be used as leverage against the Autobots. Holding you as ransom, vee can force zem to leave zee planet."

Ari yanks at the cuffs again, wishing she could lunge at the doctor. "The Autobots would never just leave me with you."

"If vee threaten your life, zey vill."

"You basically just said I'm more valuable alive to you than dead. They'll call your bluff."

"Vill zey? Really? Do you sincerely think zey'll risk your life?"

She closes her eyes tight, hands clenching around the bed rails.

She doesn't know. She doesn't know if they'd risk it or not. She knows they'd do anything to keep her safe, they'd do anything to save her, to rescue her, but if leaving was the only option?

Dr. Schmidt chuckles. "Zat is vat I thought. But I suggest you remain useful to us, Ms. Lennox, or it vill no longer be a bluff." He moves to fiddle with the I.V. stand, prepping a tube that runs from the hanging bag filled with a clear liquid. He fingers the needle at the end of the tube with sick delight, happily jabbing into a vein in her arm without any hint of gentleness. "Now, just relax, let zee sedative take hold, and Mr. Gould vill be wiz you shortly."

Things are already starting to blur as the people in the room leave, Lando being last and giving her a parting smirk. She expects the darkness to take her but it never does, the sedative simply making her mind groggy, her limbs loose and heavy. Her heart races as she panics, trying to struggle, but she can't get herself to move.

She's completely defenseless. There's no cameras in here and it didn't sound like the door locked, but it doesn't matter. The handcuffs and rope keeping her tied down could disintegrate in a poof of smoke but she's still not getting out of here. She can't even lift her head, let alone fight or run.

She's not getting out of here on her own, not if they keep her on this I.V. Her body will try to heal from the sedative only to get pumped with more.

The sound of the door opening again just a few minutes later is loud in her ears, startling her. Her head flops to the side, trying to look down the bed to the door, but her eyes keep going in and out of focus. Her mind keeps going in and out of focus. Who is she waiting for again?

"Hello, Arianna," a voice says that sends electricity shooting down her veins to counteract the coldness of the drugs.

Fear is a powerful motivator to get her struggling again.

Ron rounds the bed to stand at her side, looking just like he did in her dream the other night. Sharp suit, face altered with plastic surgery, and maniacal grin.

He's here. Why is he here?

"Allow me to introduce you, Ms. Lennox," Maxwell says, coming to stand at her other side. "This is Dylan Gould, our mysterious benefactor as you like to call him. Thanks to him we've been able to become the formidable organization we are today. Mr. Gould, this is Arianna Lennox, the AllSpark and would-be Autobot Ambassador."

Dylan Gould? Ron is Dylan Gould?

"H-How?" she says, unable to speak above a whisper but her mouth and voice is still working a lot better than the rest of her. That's probably on purpose since they still want information out of her. "Why? That's…his name is Ron Witwicky."

Maxwell looks between her and Ron in confusion. "Ron who?"

"Ron Witwicky. My biological father. You broke him out of prison."

"No, we didn't. We never broke anyone out of prison."

Ron smiles tightly. "Maybe the drugs are affecting her more than you thought they would?"

Maxwell's brow furrows. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. I'll have to warn Dr. Schmidt about that."

Ari's head plops back on the bed. What in the world is going on? That is definitely Ron. Why is he pretending to be someone else and why is Maxwell denying that Anti-Alien broke him out of prison? She knows they did. They left behind their call sign and everything.

Her head is starting to hurt. This can't be right. It makes no sense.

"Alex," Ron says to his companion with a plastered on grin Ari has seen many times, "Why don't you give Arianna and I a few minutes alone, allow us to get acquainted?"

"Sure, Mr. Gould. Whatever you say." Maxwell begins to back out of the room. "If you need anything, there will be a guard right out in the hall."

Maxwell closes the door behind him as he goes, leaving Ari alone with her father.

No. Not her father, she reminds herself. He hasn't been her father in a very long time. Will Lennox is her father and Sarah Lennox is her mother and she is Ari Lennox. This man is nothing to her.

Except he is her nightmare, a ghost always just on the peripheral of her consciousness. He and everything he's ever done to her haunts her every day. And now he is back, when she thought she would never see him again.

But that doesn't mean he can cow her. Not anymore.

"What are you doing here?" she growls, doing her best to glare at him but she's not sure how well she succeeds because of the drugs. "What's up with the fake name? What's going on?"

"Patience, Arianna," Ron says as he pulls up the plastic chair to sit down next to her bed. "I know it's something you've never been good at but you need to have patience. Everything will be explained."

Her jaw clenches at the jibe but she says nothing, striving not to let him get to her. She's not sure why he's here or what he's planning, but everything will be alright. She'll get out of here, back to Sideswipe, and he'll help her bury Ron so deep that no one will be able to find him ever again.

Everything will be alright. She has to believe that. If she doesn't, her panic and growing hysteria at being so close to the object of her deepest, darkest fears will swallow her.

"Let's start at the beginning, shall we?" Ron says, sounding almost pleasant, like he did whenever they were out in public and he wanted to present himself as the successful father and head of his household, not the abusive drunkard that he really is. All an act, but who is he acting for this time?

"Prison gave me a lot of time to think. I thought about how you turned on me, worked with those freaks, those _monsters_ , to throw me away." The pleasantness starts to slip away, showing the cruel man she always knows lies underneath, even if he's given himself a new face. "Me, your own father!"

He lunges to his feet, chair falling backwards to smack against the floor and he grabs her face with one hand, fingers digging into her cheeks. She tries to pull away but she can't. She's just an immovable shell with a speeding heart and a panicking mind. She tries to say something, tell him to stop, scream for help, but all that gets out is muffled moans.

"I thought a lot about _revenge_. As soon as I got out of prison I was going to hunt you down and make you pay. Even those alien friends of yours wouldn't be able to stop me and besides, that many years down the road, you probably would have driven them off by yourself anyway." He laughs and it has a manic edge to it. "I mean, who would want to be friends with a little girl like you?"

She moans again, wishing she could tell him to go to the Pit, to tell him how wrong he is, that the Autobots, Will, everyone, they all love her and would never leave her, but his grip just tightens on her and she stops.

"But then these people came to me," he says in almost an awed whisper, leaning in close to her so that his face is just inches from hers. "They offered me a way out, a new identity, and a way to get my revenge, a revenge so much sweeter than what I was thinking of, especially when they told me what you had allowed those aliens to turn you into. All I have to do is play the role of Dylan Gould, millionaire, businessman, and benefactor to Anti-Alien."

"W-Who?" Ari forces out.

Who is he really working for? If it isn't Anti-Alien, then who?

Ron smirks. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The door suddenly opens and Ron finally lets her go, stepping back and turning to see who it is. Dr. Schmidt steps in, holding the door open.

"Ah, doctor," Ron greets with a smile. "Have you come to start on your experiment?"

"Yes, I have," the doctor says, his eyes lingering over Ari in a way that makes her gulp. "If you vould be so kind as to shtep out of zee room so I may begin?"

"Of course." Ron moves to leave, taking Dr. Schmidt's place in the doorway, but he turns back to look at her at the last second though he doesn't actually talk to her. "Make sure it hurts."

"Most certainly."

The door shuts, leaving Ari alone with the doctor.

"What..." She breathe heavily, finding it difficult to get words out after the way Ron was gripping her like that. "What...are you going to do to me?"

"I have heard it can be difficult gettink information out of you," he says, approaching her I.V. stand and pulling out a syringe from the pocket of his lab coat. Weakly, she pulls away, thinking that it's the same sedative as before, but the liquid in the syringe isn't yellow. This one is red. "So I have developed a new compound to loosen your tongue. A truth serum, if you vill." He sticks the needle into the port of the tube and depresses the plunger. Ari watches helplessly as the red liquid flows down the line of the I.V. "It's never been tested but I am sure you vill be fine even if it does not vork, thanks to your advanced healink capabilities."

The red liquid reaches her veins, replacing the coldness of the sedative with burning flames.

Making noise is no longer so difficult. Instead, she screams.

She screams until her voice is hoarse and scratchy and breaks. She screams until her screams turn soundless but she still can't stop them. The pain has spread through her entire body, making it feel like there's lava under her skin. She's being burned alive but her skin doesn't char. It doesn't kill her. It just keeps going.

They want her to talk. Dr. Schmidt said this would loosen her tongue, but instead she's losing it. This is definitely not what he had in mind. The pain is too much. Even if she could talk, she can't hear anything over the buzzing in her head and the rapid beating of her heart. If Dr. Schmidt makes an attempt to ask her questions, she doesn't know.

By the time the drugs leave her system, hours later, she's panting and coated in sweat, making her hair stick to her forehead.

She's tired. So tired.

"It appears zee experiment is a failure," Dr. Schmidt mumbles to himself. "Perhaps zee next one vill be more successful."

A faint moan escapes her as she closes her eyes, welcoming the comforting darkness of sleep. It's the only comfort she's going to get for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I didn't actually do Dylan Gould. Gould is really Ari's biological father, Ron. This is one of those things that have been in my idea box since the very beginning. But don't worry, it won't change too much of the third movie. I have plans and more tweaks to come that will still make the third movie and Sentinel Prime's appearance possible.
> 
> The next two chapters will be tomorrow, I promise.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	60. Trial and Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So did you like my twist with Dylan being Ron? I love throwing in twists like that. It's certainly going to make the future very interesting.
> 
> As for when Ari gets rescued, sorry to say, it isn't this chapter. But it's coming. Still have a few things to do that'll tie in to how the third movie goes. But this chapter I do give you some Sideswipe so hopefully that helps.
> 
> Anyway, go onward and enjoy!

Sideswipe growls in frustration as he comes out of recharge. _Forced_ recharge. As soon as he got back to base so he could drop Will off, Optimus, Ironhide, and Jazz cornered him so Ratchet could come up behind him and knock him out.

His internal systems tell him he's been in recharge for approximately seventeen hours. Necessary hours, considering he had been low on fumes, but that's seventeen more hours Ari's been captured.

Seventeen hours he wasn't looking for her.

Lunging to his feet, he storms out of his room and down the hall, heading for the main hanger. He can hear his brother behind him, calling his name, but Sideswipe ignores him.

He doesn't have time for this.

He bursts into the main hanger and is about to transform into his alt mode when Optimus appears in front of him, blocking his path and the hanger door. The sun is low on the horizon, showing it to still be early morning. If he hurries, he can get back to where he left off well before noon, but when he tries to walk around Optimus he simply side steps to block Sideswipe's path.

"Get out of my way," Sideswipe grits out, trying to contain his anger in front of Optimus, his leader, but it's difficult. They had no right to do what they did. They had no right to keep him from searching for Ari.

"And where do you think you're going?" Optimus asks, arms crossed in front of his chassis.

"I'm picking up where I left off and continuing the search. She's out there, Optimus. I can't just stop looking."

"Searching on your own is foolish, Sideswipe."

"I can't just do nothing until someone finds something!"

"And what if you do find her? What will you do? Storm the Anti-Alien base on your own?"

"I'll do what I have to."

"And you will end up offlined because of it. You cannot face them on your own. Their forces are greater and stronger than we ever imagined."

"Please, Sideswipe," Elita-One says, stepping out from behind Optimus. "Think of Ari."

"I am thinking of Ari. I'm going to find her and I'm going to save her."

"No, you're not thinking of her. You're thinking of yourself."

Sideswipe's mouth snaps shut in surprise and Elita takes it as permission to continue. "You are upset, we can all understand that, but you are allowing your emotions to control you. You feel like you let Ari down, that you're not good enough for her. It's creating this immense sense of guilt inside of you that's driving you to prove yourself wrong, that you are good enough for Ari, and if you can just find her and save her yourself it will somehow make up for failing her."

Sideswipe winces, everything that's been swirling around in his spark suddenly laid bare for everyone to see and it makes him numb.

He did fail her. He failed her.

"But Sideswipe." Elita steps close, placing her fingers under his chin to tilt his head up to look at her. He expects accusation, anger, maybe even pity, but all he sees in her faceplates is sympathy. "None of what happened is your fault. I know it can be easy to blame yourself, but none of it was your fault. There was nothing you could do."

Sideswipe shakes his head, pulling back away from her hand. "I should have been there for her. I should have gone straight to her once the attack started, but I didn't."

"You were on patrol, Sideswipe," Optimus says. "You were protecting the perimeter with a group of N.E.S.T. soldiers. If you had left, many of them would have died. Do you think Ari would have wanted that?"

His jaw clenches, hands tightening into fists at his sides. He wants to rebuke it. He wants to say that she would have wanted him to save her because that's what _he_ wanted.

But he knows Ari. He knows the truth.

Elita smiles, already knowing his answer. "It wasn't your fault, Sideswipe. None of it. So you must stop this. Ari wouldn't want you pushing yourself and risking your life like this either. It would only worry her."

Sunstreaker snorts behind him and wheels up to his side. "She's right. The Squishy would probably hit you upside the head and call you an idiot, too." Sunny slings an arm around Sideswipe's shoulders and draws him close. "Hang in there, brother. We'll find her, I promise you, but we have to stick together."

Sideswipe's spark twists and knots, wanting Ari back, needing to find her.

But they're right. Ari wouldn't want this. It doesn't stop the anger and sadness, though. The helplessness and frustration. It's just bottled up inside without an outlet, but if he can't blame himself then who can he blame?

::Sideswipe, come in,:: Ratchet's voice says over the comm link, pulling Sideswipe from his thoughts.

::What is it?:: Sideswipe replies, wishing for news, but Ratchet doesn't exactly sound happy or excited.

::I wanted to inform you that when I checked Will over his scans showed he is completely healthy but exhausted. He is currently still sleeping in his quarters.::

::That's...That's good.:: He would have felt awful if something bad had happened to Will because he was being a forgetful, idiotic aft.

::I also wanted to inform you that Trent DeMarco has awoken. And he is asking for you.::

Sideswipe's anger boils up again, just shy of spilling over. ::And what does that fragger want?::

::I am uncertain and he will not say. All he says is that he wants to speak to you.::

Sideswipe swivels on his wheels and speeds down the hallway towards the Med Bay. ::Fine. I'm on my way.::

But the little fragger is asking for it. Because if anyone else is responsible for Ari being taken, it's definitely Trent.

He can hear the others following behind him but ignores them, instead focusing on the human lying in the bed on the Med Bay platform. Ratchet stands over Trent in his holoform, probing at the wound on his head.

Sideswipe has half a processor to add another one.

In one swift motion Sideswipe shrinks down into his alt mode and materializes his holoform right next to Trent's bed, grabbing a fistful of his paper hospital gown and yanking him up. Everyone shouts around him but still Sideswipe ignores them, adding in his own shouts.

"You were supposed to protect her!" Sideswipe yells, pulling Trent up so their faces are just inches apart. He expects fear in the human's eyes but instead there is simply resolute emptiness. That doesn't stop him though. For some reason, it just makes him even angrier. "You were supposed to protect Ari and you failed! You failed her!"

Hands grab at Sideswipe, trying to pull him away, but he struggles against them, shaking Trent back and forth. The human doesn't resist, he just takes it, and that just makes it worse somehow. He wants Trent to push back, wants to fight, but Trent doesn't do anything, like a lifeless doll.

Finally, the hands manage to drag him off of Trent and away from the bed, leaving the human rumpled and still staring with empty eyes. Sideswipe breathes heavily, his anger needing somewhere to go, and he tries to shrug out of the hands.

"We ain't lettin' you go, Sides," Jazz's holoform tells him, a firm grip on one arm while Optimus has the other and Sunstreaker has him around the middle from behind. "Not til yah calm down."

"Calm down?" Sideswipe growls. "Calm down? How can I calm down? That fragger was supposed to keep Ari safe in that room and he just let Lando take her."

"You know that is not true," Optimus says. "We all saw the video feed. Ari let herself be taken so Lando would not kill Trent like he did Ferrel. She did it to save him."

"Well, she shouldn't have! He isn't worth it! He should have taken the shot! He should have…." His breaths come more rapidly as the words get harder and harder to say. "He should have…."

"I know," Trent suddenly says, looking down at his hands lying palms up in his lap. "I know. The mission was to protect Ari whatever the cost and I failed. I should have fought back, even if the only thing I could do was take Lando down with me, but she…Ari wouldn't let me. She told me to put down my gun and she gave herself up because she didn't want me dying because of her."

"It's not fair," Sideswipe whispers, his eyes strangely stinging. "It's not fair."

Ari should be the one here right now. Not Trent. Trent has had eyes for Ari since before Sideswipe even met her, but still Trent didn't fight for her. Why did she give herself up for someone like him, someone who has only ever caused her pain?

 _"You know it's not like that,"_ Sunstreaker says over their bond. _"Ari wouldn't want him to die just because he's been mean to her in the past. She wouldn't let her own feelings affect her like that, not with his life at stake. She's selfless like that. You know that."_

Sideswipe slumps on his feet, ceasing to fight but the hands don't let him go. It feels like they're the only things holding him up now. All the fight has drained out of him, along with the anger, until the only things left are fear and despair.

"I just want her back, Sunny," he says on a breath, barely audible. "I just want her back."

Optimus moves his hand from Sideswipe's arm to his shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "We know you do, Sideswipe, as do we all, and we will do whatever it takes to bring her back home. But if we are to succeed, it will take time and it will take _all_ of us working together."

Sideswipe hate it, hates that he has to wait, that there's basically nothing he can do, but what choice does he have? She could be in another country by now for all he knows. Anti-Alien definitely isn't going to make her easy to find. But just sitting on his aft, waiting for news. It'll slowly kill him.

"Come on," Sunstreaker says right before blinking his holoform out and standing up in his bipedal mode. "Let's hit the training room. Go a few rounds. We can't help find her, but we can make sure we'll be ready for whatever the fraggers throw at us when we go get her."

Sideswipe sighs. Better than nothing, and at least this way maybe he can work out some of his lingering frustration. He blinks out his holoform as well to stand in his bipedal mode and move towards the door.

Just before he exits Trent calls after him. "I am sorry," he says, and it's not the mocking tone Sideswipe is used to hearing from the despicable human.

Sideswipe turns his head to the side, not fully turning to face Trent, and nods in acknowledgment. It's not forgiveness, but it's something.

* * *

When Ari next wakes up, it's not really waking up. The darkness recedes but not fully. It still clings to her like water to her skin, slipping off in rivulets but the moisture is still trapped deep inside. It weighs her body down and makes it hard to concentrate. Everything is muffled, like her ears are clogged with water. She shakes her head, wishing it would clear away, but the needle of the I.V. is still sticking out of her arm, feeding her drugs.

She needs to get it out, to get away, but between the drugs and the handcuffs around her wrists, she can barely move.

Time is even harder to track like this, the minutes and seconds and hours blurring together in a haze, but at one point someone wearing nurse's scrubs comes in to feed her more food. Ari tries to refuse but it's not like the nurse gives her much choice, shoving each spoonful of gruel into her mouth so that her only options are to swallow or choke.

The room service here is fragging awful. Two stars. Though based on some of Clint's and Natasha's own kidnapped adventures, this might be more like a three. At least Ari _has_ food.

Though the torture methods here might bring it back down to a two.

But she won't give them what they want. No matter what. She will endure and hold out until help comes. She won't let them use her to hurt her family and everyone she loves.

Not long after she finishes eating Dr. Schmidt comes back in, with a new syringe and a new drug to test out. This one doesn't seem to do much. Her skin gets a little prickly but that's about it. Schmidt asks her some questions about the Autobots and the human soldiers since she's not overcome with pain, but she's certainly not overcome with the overwhelming urge to answer whatever he asks either.

"Hmm," Schmidt mumbles to himself. "It seems to be too little zis time."

And then he leaves the room. Ari breathes a sigh of relief but it is short-lived, because not even ten minutes later Schmidt comes back, carrying another drug.

She wants to cry but she doesn't have the strength for even that.

It's worse this time but still better than the first time. Not quite lava under her skin but it still burns and she still screams no matter how tired the drugs make her feel.

She must blackout at some point because the next thing she knows, someone is hand feeding her again and there are voices around her. She doesn't open her eyes, leaving them closed, pretending to still be mostly out of it so that hopefully she can find out something useful.

"Zee drug trials have been ineffective so far," Schmidt says from somewhere to her left.

"No, really?" Lando says sarcastically, meaning there are at least three people in the room, Schmidt, Lando, and a third to her right feeding her, probably a nurse. "I thought you said you can handle this, doctor."

"I can. It simply takes patience. Her immune system is vastly improved because of zee AllShpark, so an effective truth serum needs to be several times zee normal dosage. Zee problem is finding a balance between too much and not enough."

"And how much longer do you think it'll take to find the right dosage?"

"A few days, perhaps. However, Mr. Gould is getting impatient. He vants me to shtart dividing my time between zee truth serum and his little project."

"His project isn't important," Lando spits out venomously. "It's against everything we're working for! We should be focusing on a way to get rid of the aliens, not figuring out how to use the AllSpark for ourselves. It's _alien_. It _all_ has to go!"

"This is Mr. Gould's condition to helping Anti-Alien," Schmidt says calmly. "He finances zee organization so long as vee find a vay to harness the girl's power. He believes it vill be beneficial to his company."

"He'll create abominations is what he'll end up doing! This is ridiculous!"

"You may think so, but Mr. Maxwell has already agreed."

"We shouldn't be doing this."

"Perhaps. But if you do not do it you will lose Mr. Gould's funding and then vere vill you be?"

"Fine," Lando bites out, "but we better still get results from the truth serum soon, doctor, or it will be your head."

There's a loud clang from the door slamming shut, probably Lando storming out of the room. Schmidt chuckles in the echoing silence.

"Zat is vat you think," he says to himself. "Zat is vat you think."

A hand touches Ari's face and she flinches back, opening her eyes to glare at Schmidt as much as she is physically able while he strokes her cheek. She wishes she could turn her head to bite his fingers off but she can't. By the laughter in his eyes, the doctor knows exactly what she's thinking and it makes her even angrier at him.

"Now, let's see vat vee can do about you, shall vee?"

A part of Ari is glad that the torture with the experimental serum is over, at least for now. Another part of her is terrified about what the doctor plans on trying next. They want to try to use her AllSpark power for themselves. If they succeed it could be catastrophic. They said before that Ron wanted to produce energon, but why? And what is this company of his? Sure, all the money he has must come from somewhere, but she can't imagine Ron being in charge of a company.

What is Ron up to?

Schmidt brings in some kind of machine, a sphere about twice the size of a basketball. It's a mass of wires and gears sticking out of metal plating and Ari has absolutely no idea what it is. He must see her wary curiosity because he places a proud hand on the device and explains, "Vee know you cannot be forced to do vee vork vee call you to do. Your resilience so far is proof of zat. But perhaps vee can find a way to take zee energy out of you, hmm? Zis here," he pats the sphere, "is a collection module of my own design. It vill drain you of your AllShpark energy and store it for future use. Harnessing zat energy vill be tricky, but zat is a problem for another day." He takes up two wires connected to the sphere with white circles on the ends of them and stalks closer to her, sticking the circles to either side of her temple to connect her to the machine. "For now, let us see if vee can't cut zat power out of you."

He flips a few switches on the machine and it whirls to life, Ari's heart speeding faster with it. All the other times someone has tried to take her power from her, it's hurt. A lot. This probably won't be much different. Schmidt glances over at her, a sadistic little smile on his face, and pushes one final button.

Pain shoots through her from the wires, another scream tearing from her lips. Instead of lava or fire beneath her skin, this time it feels like lightning rumbling around her head and ricocheting all throughout her body. Tears stream down her face as her body convulses, the handcuffs and ropes keeping her tied to the bed digging into her wrists and ankles.

And through all the pain she can feel her AllSpark marks growing warm on her arm.

Is it working? Please, Primus, don't let it be working.

When Schmidt finally powers down the machine and the lightning stops, Ari collapses back into the bed, chest heaving with her breaths and sweat plastering her hair to her face. She feels tired. So tired. But she manages to keep her eyes slitted open, watching the doctor to find out if he was successful.

He removes the wires from her head and looks over the machine, making a couple of intrigued hums. "Interestink," he mutters quietly. "Very interestink. Shtill not quite successful but I do believe vee are headink in zee right direction to reachink the necessary reaction. A few more tests should do zee trick." He glances over at her, eying her up and down. "I vill allow you to rest. Zen vee vill begin again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me a bit of trouble. Sideswipe just did not want to cooperate with me and then Trent decided to show up and...yeah, it was a mess, but I think it turned out okay. I just wanted to show just how upset Sideswipe is but also have him stand down a little. He'll end up missing the plane ride to the rescue if he doesn't and I couldn't have that.
> 
> And I'm sorry about Ari's continued suffering but it is a bit necessary.
> 
> Next chapter is the beginning of the rescue, yay!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	61. Self-Saving Damsel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the rescue begins! I was really conflicted for the longest time with how I wanted this to go. Part of me wanted Sideswipe and Clint and Natasha and everybody to go in, guns blazing, and rescue Ari. Another part of me wanted Ari to get out of it completely on her own. Hopefully this is a good combination of the two.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

The experiments continue off and on for a long time.

In between, they let Ari sleep, feed her, and give her a bedpan to use, which is humiliating and completely disgusting. Considering they haven't given her a new change of clothes at all since she's been here, though, it's still a lot better than wetting herself. Even if they did let her out to use an actual restroom there's no way she'd be able to use it by herself. She can't even lift her head.

Whenever Dr. Schmidt isn't testing his machine or a new drug, she lets the sedatives pull her under into oblivion, for as long and as often as they'll let her. Escaping to her subconscious is a lot better than being conscious in the cell her own body has become. At least in her dreams she can pretend she's with Sideswipe.

She wishes he would find her already. She wants to go home. She wants to kiss Sideswipe, hug her parents, play with Annabelle. She wants to hang out with Rob in the Rec Room, plan a prank with Clint, talk with Lina long into the night.

She just wants this to be over already.

But no one has come for her yet.

What if no one ever will? N.E.S.T. and S.H.I.E.L.D. have been trying to find the Anti-Alien base for months. What if they're just too hard to find?

At one point Schmidt comes back in the room only this time he's not carrying his machine or a new syringe. A nurse pushing a gurney follows him into the room. Schmidt's brow is furrowed in frustration and the corners of Ari's lips tug up in a smile. Nothing he's done so far has worked. There have been a few times where he seems close but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. He must be getting desperate.

"Get her on zee gurney," Schmidt snaps and the nurse quickly gets to work, removing Ari's I.V. and freeing her of the restraints while the doctor paces the room, sending Ari frequent glares. "You are tryink my patience, little girl. Zee machine is almost finished but you continue to resist zee drugs. You better hope zat a few brain scans help me determine vere I am goink wrong or I may simply let Mr. Gould have you. He says he knows a vay zat vill make you talk."

Ari can feel the color drain from her face. Ron can't seriously mean what she thinks she does.

Does he?

The nurse grabs her legs, the doctor her arms, and together they move Ari from the bed to the gurney to wheel her out of the room. They take her down the hall and into an elevator. Based on the momentum they head up a couple floors. She's not sure how many. It's still kind of hard for her to focus.

But it's getting easier and easier by the second.

Ari can feel control over her body come back to her little by little. It's slow, but it may just be fast enough. That drug has been constantly fed into her veins for hours, days, all the while her body's immune system trying to fight it off, and since she's supercharged by the AllSpark her immune system is so much stronger. It's had time to learn what this drug is and how to fight it off.

But now she isn't being fed anymore drugs, probably in preparation for whatever scans they plan on performing. If they're doing an MRI or anything like that, no metal can go into the machine with her. They're cocky, thinking the drugs will continue affecting her for a while like when they first took her.

It will be their downfall.

The elevator dings and the doors open to allow them to exit, the nurse continuing to push her down the hallways. Pretending to still be groggy, Ari casts her eyes around her to get a look at what this facility is like. It seems like she suspected before, an office building, so she is probably in the middle of a city somewhere. Only this office building is crawling with guards in full tactical gear. They reach the end of the hall and turn the corner. This one must be on the outside of the building because there are windows on the right side of the hallway.

It's nighttime, the darkness lit up in artificial lights so much brighter than the starlight she's used to. A busy city then, not a small town like Tranquility but something at least as big as Mission City if not bigger. She can't tell what city, though, or even what state she's in.

They suddenly stop and the doctor opens a door, allowing the nurse to wheel the gurney inside. The door closes but doesn't lock, and a quick glance around shows that there aren't any cameras in here. There is a very big MRI machine though, just like she suspected.

"Prep zee patient," Schmidt orders the nurse, moving to the controls on the side of the MRI to start turning it on. "Vee'll shtart vith zee MRI and zen move on to zee MEG. I need to better undershtand how her brain vorks if I'm goink to be successful vith either of my projects."

This is probably going to be the only chance she gets, so when the nurse moves towards her Ari grabs her arm and yanks, using the momentum to hoist herself up and drag the nurse down. She still feels a lot like jello, the sudden shift upward making her a bit woozy, but she pushes through it, bringing a sharp elbow down on the back of the nurse's neck, right into a pressure point Natasha showed her, and knocking the woman out cold.

"Vat is zis?" Schmidt exclaims, rounding the machine, reaching out to grab her, but Ari is already leaping off the gurney with her fist pulled back for a punch.

But it doesn't land because Dr. Schmidt blinks out.

Just like a holoform.

Ari spins at the sound of metal shifting coming from behind her and the door to a storage closet opens, Scalpel scrambling out. His beady red optics narrow at her through his large spectacles.

Ari shakes her head, eyes blurring slightly, but that is definitely the crab-like Decepticon she loves to hate. "I should have known it was you. No other doctor can be that creepy, human or Cybertronian."

"And I should have known you could not be kept down zat easily," he replies, holding up one of his sharp, blade-like legs, "but I can fix zat. And zen I think I vill use my own methods of gettink vat I vant from you, to zee Pit vith stayink under the fleshlings' noses."

Scalpel launches himself at her and Ari dodges to the side rather sloppily, almost losing her footing. She's not up for a full-on fight, the drugs are still weighing her down too much, so before the little bot can right himself for another attack Ari leaps for the MRI machine. Scalpel already got it booted up. She cranks it to full power and then presses the big red button on the side. The magnetic field powers on, pulling anything metal towards the machine. The gurney slides wildly on its wheels to crash into the MRI with a loud clang.

Scalpel tries to fight against the magnet, digging his claws into the tile floor, but with a cry of alarm he, too, gets pulled towards the MRI, flying off his feet and slamming into the inner tunnel of the machine. Sparks fly as something breaks from the impact and Ari backs away with her arms covering her face to protect herself.

There's a horrific screech as more and more sparks explode and then the machine goes silent, completely dead.

Ari lowers her arms to see scorch marks all over the MRI from the electrical sparks and in the center of the machine is a scorched Scalpel, his optics completely black, offlined.

He's dead. The subject of so many of her past nightmares is dead.

A relieved laugh bubbles up in Ari's chest but she clamps a hand over her mouth, eying the door. None of that was exactly silent. Someone could have heard it. She needs to get out of here, now. Just wandering down the hallways isn't really an option, though. She saw security cameras in the halls and no little number of guards.

But there is an air vent in this room, low enough to reach with a little boost.

The gurney is still pretty much intact so she situates it under the vent, locks the wheels so it doesn't move, and climbs up. It makes her just tall enough to reach the vent in the wall near the ceiling. She makes quick work unscrewing the grate covering the vent, using the cuff link that is still miraculously in her pocket.

Guess it's a good thing they weren't kind enough to change her out of her filthy clothes after all.

The grate pops open easily and she pulls herself up into the vents, closing the grate behind her. She's plunged into darkness but eyes aren't really necessary here, especially since she's in such an unfamiliar building. She doesn't know which way to go and there's no real way for her to know, so she just gets moving, following the vent forward on her hands and knees.

She's not sure how long she crawls for but she knows the further away she gets from that room, the better. No one will notice she's missing for a while so long as no one else goes in that room and the nurse doesn't wake up. She stops at a grate every once in a while when it intersects with a hallway, trying to gage the level of activity of the place, and it still seems to be pretty mild.

After the fourth time she stops and doesn't see people running around trying to find her or any sign of some kind of alarm, Ari decides it's time to figure out the next part of her plan.

Though, really, it's not so much of a plan as simply making it up as she goes along.

Taking a couple of turns, Ari stops at another grate, this one in the ceiling of an office as far as she can tell. The room lights are off but there must be a window with the blinds drawn open because the soft lights of the city are streaming in, illuminating a desk, chair, and computer desktop. She gets the grate open and then drops down into the office as quietly and carefully as possible.

She suppresses a groan of pain as she lands on her feet on the carpeted floor. She must not be recuperating as fast as she thought she was. Everything still aches from a combination of the drugs and the experiments. Crawling around in the vents definitely didn't help either. She's starting to feel more like herself, thanks to the AllSpark, and it's a lot easier to move now, but everything else is still going to take time to heal, even for her. Sleep, real sleep, would help but there's no time for that.

Which is why she isn't looking to get out of here on her own. She's going to call for the cavalry and this office has just what she needs: a desk phone.

Before she does absolutely anything, though, she goes to the office door, locks it, and then takes one of the stiff-back chairs from in front of the desk and wedges it beneath the door handle as an extra precaution. Anyone really determined could still probably get in but it'll buy her at least a little time if anyone discovers she's in here. There's no cameras in this room, not surprising since it's just a simple office, but once they realize she's missing they'll start a sweep of the building.

But hopefully help will be here long before they reach this room.

With shaking hands, Ari moves back to the desk, picks up the cordless phone, and presses it to her ear. When she hears the dial tone she has to muffle her sob of relief with a hand over her mouth. Taking the phone with her, she lowers herself into the far corner of the room, facing the door and out of sight of the window even though she seems to be pretty high up in the building. She can see rooftops from other smaller buildings and she can hear the rushing sound of traffic outside but can't see any cars, not even a traffic light.

Drawing her legs to her chest and wrapping her free arm around them, she looks at the phone, thumb hovering over the numbers.

Who does she call? She wants to call Sideswipe but that isn't an option. The comm link doesn't exactly have its own phone number. Most other numbers she just has stored in the contacts of her cell phone but that doesn't help her now.

But Phil, he made her memorize his number after Egypt. Most likely the others called him in whenever she was taken so he'll be with them at N.E.S.T., or at the very least he'll be able to call them to tell them where she is.

So she dials the number, puts the phone back to her ear, and waits.

He picks up after the second ring, voice stoic but so, so familiar, "This is Coulson."

Tears stream down her face and it's a struggle to get words out without her voice breaking or being too loud. "Phil, it's me, it's Ari."

She can hear his sharp intake of breath, as close to a surprised gasp as the agent will ever get. "Ari? Where are you? Are you hurt? We're coming to get you, I promise." There's a lot of muffled yelling in the background and then he shouts away from the phone, "Wheeljack, I need a trace on this call, now!"

She screws her eyes shut tight, tears still falling down her cheeks, and she bites her lip to keep in her sobs. She needs to stay quiet or else she'll get found, but they're coming for her. They're coming for her.

She's going to go home.

"Ari, I need you to talk to me, alright?" Phil says, calm and cool as ever. Ari latches onto it, allowing it to help calm her down. "Where are you exactly?"

"I-I don't know," she says, wiping at the moisture on her face. "I think it's their base but it's like some kind of office building? It's in the middle of a city."

"And you're still at the facility?"

"Yes. I managed to escape and found a phone. I'm holed up in one of the offices. I don't think anyone's realized I've escaped yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"And what are we walking into?"

"Not sure. I know there are at least some guys with guns but I don't know how many. And a lot of weird things are going on. Scalpel was here, using his holoform to disguise himself as a human. I'm not sure if there are any other Decepticons around though." She swallows heavily. "It's…It's been rough."

"That's alright, Ari. We'll be there soon. Wheeljack's pinpointed your location and it looks like they didn't take you out of the state. In the plane, we can be there in twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes. Twenty very long minutes.

She takes in a slow breath. "Phil, there's more."

"What is it?"

"I...I know who the benefactor is, for Anti-Alien."

"Who?" There's a loud grumbling in the background, a plane coming to life and taking off. "Do you have a name?"

"I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that." She pulls her legs closer to her chest, wishing she could bury inside herself as she begins to ramble. "I-It's Ron. Ron is the benefactor, but he's going by the name Dylan Gould and he has money now and he's had plastic surgery and-"

"Hey, hey, slow down," Phil soothes and she snaps her mouth shut, glancing worriedly at the door but she doesn't hear anyone coming. "You need to hang in there, Ari, okay? You need to hang in there because there's a lot of people on this plane who need you to come home."

"O-Okay," she says, forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths. She can be calm. She _can_ be calm. "Sorry. It's just...I don't understand what's going on, Phil. Anti-Alien, Ron, the Decepticons. It just doesn't make sense."

"I know, and we'll figure it out, but right now the important thing is getting you out of there."

She nods, more to herself than anything else. "Sounds like a plan. How far out are you now?"

"E.T.A. is fifteen minutes."

"Slag it, Phil. Can't you make the plane go any faster?"

"Don't worry, if it can go any faster, Clint will _make it_ go faster. But I know something that might help you pass the time. Hold on."

There's muffled static as it sounds like the phone is passed on and then Will's hopeful voice says, "Ari?"

She leans her forehead on her knees, the tears pushing at the backs of her eyes again and making her throat feel tight. "Daddy?"

"Hey, baby," he says, his own voice sounding thick. "You okay? Did they hurt you?"

She thinks about lying, because a plane full of angry Autobots has the potential to be very bad, but the earful she'd get from Ratchet later when he finds out just how not okay she is really isn't worth it. She doesn't want to worry him, though, so she settles with, "I've definitely been better."

"Anything serious?" he asks, his worry clear.

"No, but I might still need a little help walking out of here."

"It'll be okay, Ari, you'll be okay. We'll be there soon. We're going to parachute right into the city about a mile from where they're keeping you. Phil's got all the roads blocked off for us and everything."

Ari frowns. "The Autobots aren't actually coming in, are they? Even with the roads blocked off, things could get messy."

There could be a lot of human casualties. Collateral damage. And that's what started this mess in the first place.

"Not exactly," Will says. "They're landing with us but they're not transforming. They're coming in as holoforms."

"Good. That's good. You remembered to get them all tactical gear, right? Because they can make their holoforms look like they're wearing tactical gear but they won't actually be wearing it. One bullet will short out the holoform."

"Yeah, we got plenty of gear and weapons for them. The Autobots and N.E.S.T. are going to take on Anti-Alien, draw their fire, while Hawkeye and Widow go in to get you out. They'll bring you right to us and then Sideswipe and Sunstreaker will get you out of there."

She bites her lip hard, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Is…Is Sideswipe there?"

Will chuckles. "Yeah. Yeah, he is. Wondered when you were going to ask. He's been trying to get at the phone since Phil said it was you."

A wet laugh escapes her. "And how has that been going?"

"Well, Optimus and Ironhide managed to convince him to change to his alt mode so he could get on the plane and we could leave, but then he brought out the holoform. Jazz practically had to tackle him to stop him from taking the phone."

"Can…Can I talk to him now?"

"So long as he doesn't break the phone trying to get at it, yeah. Just a sec."

There's more static as the phone is passed off yet again and then he's there.

"Ari?" Sideswipe says and he sounds so raw. It breaks a little something inside of her and she wishes she were with him already so she can comfort him and he can comfort her and everything will be okay.

She just wants everything to be okay already.

"I'm here, Sides," she says, clutching the phone. "I'm here."

"I'm sorry, sweetspark. I'm so, so sorry. I couldn't protect you."

"No, no, don't say that. It's not your fault. I shouldn't have let them take me with them into that safe room. I said I wanted to fight beside you and instead I hid away."

"Lando wouldn't have given you much of a choice, Ari."

"Maybe. But you didn't have the choice to go into that room with me either." She sighs deeply, leaning back against the wall and thumping her head against it softly. "Look, it doesn't matter. Just…I love you, okay?"

"I love you too, sweetspark. We'll be together soon." There's yelling in the background that she can't make out. "Look, I got to go now, okay? We're about to airdrop."

"'Kay," she says softly. "See you soon."

"See you soon."

Ari expects the phone to disconnect but it doesn't, instead passing hands again. "Ari, this is Phil. I'm going to stay on the line with you until Hawkeye and Widow have you."

Something in her chest loosens a little. "Okay."

She'll be home soon. She'll be home soon.

Her family is coming for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scalpel is dead, frag yeah! Did anyone guess that Dr. Schmidt was actually Scalpel? I thought the accent would give it away but no one really said anything. Maybe that was just so long ago. Anywho, yes, the Decepticons are involved with Ron and Anti-Alien and everything and it's all a lead up to the third movie.
> 
> Next chapter Ari finally gets rescued. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	62. Superheroes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here's what you've wanted, Ari and Sideswipe back together.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

When the alarm sounds, Ari and Phil don't talk much anymore. The team hasn't arrived yet which means Anti-Alien has discovered she's escaped.

Ari can hear running boots in the hallways. None of them have stopped at her door yet but it's only a matter of time.

"Phil," she whispers after yet another group of people run past her door, "how much longer?"

"The team has touched down and is approaching the building now," he says just as quietly.

There's suddenly a loud boom, Ari can feel the vibrations all the way up on her floor and the windowpane rattles.

"Slag, Phil, what did they _do_?"

"Ironhide drove himself through the front of the building," he deadpans.

Ari really can't tell if he's kidding or not. He's in work mode so his voice is carefully controlled to give none of his feelings away. "I thought you said none of the Autobots are coming in and they're just using holoforms?"

"They're not coming in. Ironhide's alt mode is pulling back to where the others are located now, in a parking garage a few blocks away. They just needed a way into the building that was...loud and attention-getting."

There's a lot of shouting outside and gunfire starts up. "Yeah, I think they got people's attention."

"This way, hopefully they stop looking for you and Hawkeye and Widow can find you first." There's a pause and then she hears him speak into his comm, "Strike Team Delta is in. Wheeljack, have you been able to pinpoint the exact location of Precious Cargo?" He hums in approval. "Good. East side, twenty-third floor. That's not too high up."

Not too high? How big is this building then? But she doesn't voice her questions, just a few of many. She can get the details once she's safe.

"Alright, Ari," Phil says to her, "they're on their way. It'll just be a few more minutes until you're with friendlies."

"Okay," she whispers back, shifting in her place on the floor. She's starting to get really tired. She thought she'd get more awake as the drugs wear off but it's feeling like the opposite. Though, really, when was the last time she slept that wasn't drug-fused? Probably never, since she's been here.

And she's going to be safe soon. She's going to get rescued. But that doesn't mean she can let her guard down so she resolutely stares at the door, waiting for someone to find her.

After a few minutes of just silently breathing with Phil, interspersed with the occasional murmurs of Phil talking to the teams, there are gunshots. Only these ones are a lot closer than the far-away pounding that's been coming from outside. These are coming from her floor and are getting closer.

And then it all goes silent.

Ari staggers to her feet with the help of adrenalin, unsure if this is good news or bad, ready for either outcome with the phone still clutched in her hand.

The door handle to her office rattles and she tenses. Someone has found her. Can she fight her way out? Does she still have the strength to?

"Ari?" Clint's voice filters through the door. "Ari, it's us. Open up."

A part of her wonders for just a second if it's some kind of 'Con trick, but she shakes that thought away. No, it's them. It's really them. It's time to go home.

She staggers around the desk, setting the phone on top of it, pulls the chair away that was wedged under the door handle, and unlocks the door. With a deep breath, she then pulls it open.

Clint and Natasha are both there and yet they're not just Clint and Natasha. They're Hawkeye and Black Widow, wearing the uniforms she's only ever seen in grainy footage from the Battle of New York against the Chitauri. Clint is wearing black tactical pants, black boots, and a sleeveless black leather shirt with purple accents that zippens up the middle, like a tactical vest though nowhere near as thick. He has his bow in hand and his quiver full of arrows strapped to his back. Natasha is wearing some kind of leather catsuit equipped with all sorts of compartments and gadgets, including her famous Widow Bites on her wrists that are like high-tech tasers. She also has a glock in hand. The outfits seem thin to the untrained eye but Ari can see that the leather in both their clothing is more than just leather; more than likely it's bulletproof.

She tries to hold back her tears at the sight of them, Clint standing in front of her, Natasha behind him and glancing both ways down the hallway looking for any more trouble. It doesn't feel like Ari succeeds very well, though. "I forget that you guys are superheroes sometimes."

Clint smirks, clouded by the worry deeply seated in his eyes. "If we're superheroes that makes you our damsel in distress."

"Hey, I'm a self-saving damsel if you hadn't noticed. I'm the one who let you know where I was."

"Still had to come get you, kiddo."

Ari takes a step forward and that's when her knees decide to give out, but she doesn't hit the floor. Clint catches her, an arm around her waist, pulling her close to his side so he can take some of her weight.

"You alright?" Clint asks, all traces of humor gone as he looks her over for injuries.

"They drugged me," Ari explains, struggling to keep herself standing on her own. "A lot. I'm having a hard time shaking it off."

"You need fluids and rest," Natasha explains, eyes still scanning the hallway, "to flush your system of the toxins. That's how it works for normal people and I'm guessing this stuff was stronger than normal?"

Ari represses a shiver but by the way Natasha's eyes dart over to her, she thinks the agent still sees it. "Yeah. A lot stronger. And they had me on an I.V." Plus some other things but there's no need to go into that right now. "So can we get out of here? I'd really like to go home now."

Natasha smiles, just a fraction, but it's there. "Yes, we can go now, _kotyonok_." She jerks her head towards one end of the hallway. "I'll take point and cover. Clint, you got her?"

"Yeah, I got her." Clint hooks his bow over his shoulder and then bends down to pick Ari up with an arm around her shoulders and an arm under her knees, cradling her to his chest.

She smacks at his shoulder with a huff of irritation. "This is so not necessary."

"Ari, you were barely standing a second ago," he says with a roll of his eyes.

Well, he does have a point. It's twenty-three stories and they probably can't use the elevator. "But what if we run into trouble?"

"You let me worry about that," Natasha says, slipping the magazine out of her gun to check on her number of bullets and then sliding it back into place. "Now come on. We need to get moving."

Resignedly, Ari wraps her arms around Clint's neck and hangs on for the ride. They weave through the hallways, stepping over bodies that Ari tries not to think about or look too closely at. She has no idea where they're going but she finds that she's okay with that. She doesn't have to worry about it, about anything anymore. Clint and Natasha will take care of it. As they move, Clint talks into his comm piece hidden in his ear, "Overwatch, this is Hawkeye. We have Precious Cargo. Heading for the rendezvous point now."

She's close enough to where she can hear Phil's reply, "Roger that. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Strike Team Delta has Precious Cargo and are heading towards rendezvous one. Standby to receive."

"You got it," Sideswipe says. "Standing by."

Soon. She'll be with him soon.

Natasha slows once they come to the door of the stairwell, holding up a hand to signal them to stop. She opens the door slowly, peeking her head through with her gun held ready. Satisfied with what she sees, she steps cautiously into the stairwell, scanning up and down the stairs. "Clear," she says and then they're running again, climbing downward.

They spiral around and around and around, their heavy boots echoing off of the concrete. Ari watches the painted numbers on the wall count down as they pass floors.

Twenty-two.

Twenty-one.

Twenty.

Nineteen.

Eighteen.

It's at floor seventeen that they hear the clang of a door opening into the stairwell above them and then a lot more boots stomping their way. Natasha and Clint don't stop, though, they just keep going.

Sixteen.

Fifteen.

Fourteen.

Thirteen.

Another door opens, this time below them and a lot closer. Natasha doesn't freeze even for a second, instantly detouring them to the door on floor twelve and leading them into the labyrinth of hallways. She takes more turns than Ari can keep track of until they reach another stairwell on the other side of the building.

But before they can reach it, the door opens and a half dozen armed guards spill into the hallway.

Clint turns on his heels to backtrack but comes to a jarring halt when even more guards spill into the hallway from the other side.

They're trapped at both ends with nowhere to go.

"Options?" Clint asks as the two groups move closer.

"What do you think?" Natasha says.

Clint curses under his breath and sets Ari down. She gets her feet under her, trying to stand, but she still feels weak, forcing her to lean on the wall or else fall to the floor. With her steady, Clint draws his bow, aiming an arrow at the other encroaching group.

One more person steps out of the stairwell and the Anti-Alien troops part so Lando can step to the front of the group. He looks the three of them over with laughter in his eyes. "Alright, you had your fun. Now hand the girl over."

"I don't think so," Natasha says with a coy smile. "If you want her, you'll have to come get her."

"We can shoot you, right now."

"You can try," Clint says without turning to look at Lando. "But you'll risk hitting Ari and you need her. Is it really something you want to risk?"

"We have you outnumbered."

Natasha laughs, her voice light like plastic. "You do know who we are, right?"

"Yeah, a couple of green S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who've had only a couple of cases before you were told to come after me. And you failed."

Natasha's eyes dim, going cold, but her small smile doesn't waver. "Failing to catch you in time has added red to my ledger, red that I plan on wiping out today with your death." Lando's amusement fades a little at those words and Natasha takes a few sauntering steps forward. "You're wrong about who we are. Look again."

The wheels turn in some of the guards' eyes. They look at Natasha's red hair, the catsuit. They snag on Clint's bow and that's when it truly clicks. Lando exchanges nervous glances with the guards, but there is still a little doubt and he doesn't back down.

He's going to regret that.

"So what's it going to be, boys?" Natasha asks. "We haven't got all night."

Lando growls, pulling a serrated knife from the sheath on his belt, and then charges at Natasha.

She smirks. Big mistake.

Ari has seen Natasha fight, has fought the agent herself, and every time she's always surprised how much it looks like the agent is dancing. Natasha once told her that the people who trained her, from the Red Room program, they used ballet as part of the training regime. It's easy to see that the graceful moves have integrated into the way she fights. She moves around Lando like she's barely touching the ground and by the time it's over, Natasha twisted around his body with her thighs around his neck, squeezing and yanking so the spinal cord snaps, it's so swift that no one sees it coming.

But once it is over, with Lando on the ground and the Black Widow standing over her prey victorious, it urges everyone else to move.

The guards rush them and Natasha happily leaps into the melee, fists and feet flying, while Clint releases arrow after arrow. When they start to get too close he presses a few buttons on his bow and his quiver whirls, a mechanism built into the bottom spinning and loading a special type of arrowhead onto Clint's next arrow. He pulls it and shoots in one easy movement, and when it hits, the arrow explodes, easily taking out five men.

They're definitely impressive.

But then more men burst from the stairwell on Natasha's side and more men round the corner on Clint's and Ari worries that maybe they really are too outnumbered.

"Give me a gun," Ari demands, holding a hand out to Clint.

He glances at her incredulously while simultaneously firing another arrow, hitting a man in the small space of his neck that isn't covered by tactical gear. "No. You're still being affected by the drugs."

One of the guards decides that enough is enough, pulls his gun, and starts firing. A bullet hits the wall really close to Ari's head and she jerks back from the close contact. There's so no time for this. Clint knows she can shoot, doesn't matter if she isn't one hundred percent. "Now, Clint!"

Begrudgingly, he pulls the handgun strapped to his thigh and hands it to her along with a spare magazine. She quickly pockets the magazine, flicks off the safety with her thumb, and fires at the closest target.

She fells him with a single bullet. It's fast. Nothing really to it at all, just a pull of her finger and then he drops to the floor with a plop.

She's never killed someone before.

But she can't think about that right now and she pushes it to the back of her mind. These are targets, hostiles, threats to herself, her friends, and her family. If she wants to go home, if she wants to save herself and everyone else, this is something she must do. So she does it.

No matter the cost to herself, because there are things more important than herself.

She's not sure how long it goes on for. Being in the middle of a fight, even when she was just running through the fighting, it always makes time feel like it flows differently, like it's really fast and really slow at the same time. She knows it's because of the adrenaline, but by the time the last guard drops from a Widow's Bite to the neck, she still can't say if it's been one minute or ten and her second magazine is half gone.

"You alright, kid?" Clint asks and she jumps slightly, realizing she's still holding the gun up. She lowers her arm but doesn't relinquish her weapon.

"I-I've never killed someone before," she stammers, the words sounding strange, being out in the open.

Did all of that really just happen?

"And you still haven't," Natasha says, taking the gun from Ari's hands, ejecting the magazine to show her the bullets. These ones aren't normal. They're blue. "It's an I.C.E.R."

Ari's brow furrows. "You mean those tranque guns Phil likes?"

"Exactly. I knew you'd probably want a weapon eventually and that we may need the extra hand, so I asked Phil if I could borrow it and switched it out with one of Clint's guns."

"Hey!" Clint gripes. "You could have told me. What if I needed that gun?"

Natasha shrugs her shoulders. "An I.C.E.R. still works just as well."

"An I.C.E.R. is completely different!"

"And that's the point." Natasha holds the gun out for Ari to take back. "All the people you shot, you didn't actually kill. You haven't killed anyone."

That's not entirely true. She hasn't killed any _humans_. But she has killed someone today. Scalpel. She can feel his spark, newly returned to the Well of Sparks. She did that. She offlined him. She killed him. Doesn't matter that he's an alien. Aliens, humans, none of that matters. He was a life and she ended it and that is something she'll have to live with.

She can cause death. It's not something she's ever wanted to do, but in order to protect those she loves, she'll give up that piece of herself.

Does she regret killing Scalpel? No, not really. He caused her a lot of pain and he was twisted, sick in a way that would never change.

Would she have regretted actually killing these people? Yes. But it wouldn't have been just because they're human. They're not sick and twisted like Scalpel was, like most of the Decepticons are, at least all the ones she's met, though Jetfire is an example to keep in mind even though it hasn't been repeated yet. But these humans, they're misguided. They're being fed lies. And maybe most of the people here have a chance to be saved and shown the truth.

That is why she would have regretted it, because killing them would mean she failed them. She failed to save them.

But they still have a chance.

"Thank you," Ari says quietly and Natasha gives her a nod of understanding.

Ari's legs are getting shaky again, so Clint picks her up and they move into the stairwell to continue downwards. She keeps her gun held firmly in one hand as they move, covering their six and ready to fire if they're found again. It helps to pass the time, being focused on something besides their progress, and before she knows it they've made it to the lobby level and they're bursting through a side door to outside.

It's still night out. What time of night she cannot tell.

"Sideswipe, this is Hawkeye," Clint says into his comm. "We had to take a slight detour but we're coming up on the rendezvous point now. Be ready to transfer Precious Cargo in thirty seconds."

"Copy that," Sideswipe says and Ari faces in front of them again.

Sideswipe. He's thirty seconds away.

The door let them out in an alley at the side of the building. The sounds of gunfire and fighting are close, real close, but they head away from it, towards the back of the building. They round the corner and Ari's breath catches in her throat, eyes going wide as everything slows even though Clint and Natasha haven't slowed down at all.

There he is, Sideswipe, in his holoform, Sunstreaker at his side. They look weird in tactical gear. They've always been so casual before while in holoform, unless dressed up for some sort of special occasion, but looking like this, they really do look like soldiers. And it looks like they came loaded for war, each with a rifle slung across their backs and several other weapons strapped to them. It kind of suits them, though, considering the warriors they are while in their bipedal modes.

Seeing them like this, it loosens the tension in her shoulders she never even realized she had been holding.

She tries to say his name but it gets caught in her throat so she just reaches her arms out to Sideswipe desperately. She needs to feel him. She needs to feel him and know that this is real. He instantly rushes forward to take her from Clint, her name on his lips whispered like a prayer, and he sinks to the ground as they clutch at each other tightly. The feel of his spark thrums around her and through her and she melts into him.

Safe. She's safe now.

"I've got you, sweetspark, I've got you," he says in her ear, over and over again, as she trembles in his arms.

"D-Don't let go," she manages to get out and his arms tighten around her.

"I won't. I promise."

"This is nice and all, but you need to get moving," Clint says, peeking back around the corner to make sure they weren't followed out of the building. "You guys get her out of here as fast as possible."

"What about you and Nat?" Ari asks without lifting her head from Sideswipe's shoulder, unwilling to lose any point of contact.

"We still need to find Maxwell," Natasha says, "and Ron. If either of them are still here, we're bringing them in. But don't you worry about anything else, _kotyonok_. You just worry about yourself right now."

"Okay," Ari says, handing the gun back to Clint. She doesn't need it anymore. "I'll see you guys back at base?"

"You can count on it." Clint nods to Sides and Sunny. "Keep her safe, fellas."

Sideswipe's jaw clenches and he nods back. He then adjusts his grip so he can pick her up as he stands, still holding her close. "No one is taking her," he growls, " _ever_ again."

"You got that right," Sunstreaker wholeheartedly agrees. "If anyone wants the Squishy, they'll have to go through me and that ain't happening."

Clint smirks darkly. "Good. Now go. Get to the secondary rendezvous point."

Sides and Sunny take off at a brisk jog down the alley that runs behind the buildings. When they reach the end of the block where the alley spills out into the street Sunstreaker goes first, rifle held in his hands, and cautiously looks both ways before motioning to them that it's clear. Sideswipe follows him out and they continue to jog down the street, heading away from the fighting.

It's completely deserted out, no cars, no foot traffic. S.H.I.E.L.D. did good blocking the area off and she wonders what excuse they're using. This is a commercial area from the looks of it, so at least there aren't any people in their houses curiously peeking out the windows, but they must have come up with something good in order to turn this area into basically a ghost town in so little time.

A few blocks away they enter a parking garage, the concrete structure making the air cold and the yellow, flickering lights making the place feel ominous. There are several cars on the ground floor of the garage but there are no signs of their owners or where they could be, or even if anyone else is here. It would be creepy if she were alone, but she's not, and her chest squeezes when they reach the back of the garage where all of the Autobots have parked.

And it is all of them. All of them came for her, no one being left behind at base. A dangerous thing to do, to leave the base undefended, but it makes her feel so loved and cared for.

She waves to them even though most of their attention is currently diverted to their holoforms but they still have enough consciousness here to softly rumble their engines at her in greeting.

And then Sideswipe's alt mode comes into view on the other side of Optimus's massive semi and she only has eyes for the sleek silver of his form. The tears she has been trying to hold back ever since Clint and Natasha found her return as Sideswipe's door opens and his holoform lowers the both of them into the passenger seat, Ari sitting in his lap.

Sideswipe's engine roars to life and they tear out of the garage, Sunstreaker and, surprisingly though perhaps it shouldn't be, Ratchet sticking close behind them. Ari doesn't really pay much attention outside of Sideswipe's interior after that. All she needs to know is that they're leaving that awful place and heading home.

She curls up on Sideswipe's lap, burrowing into his chest and tightening her arms around his neck, though one hand does move to grasp the headrest of the seat in an almost death grip. She just needs to know that he's here, that all of him is here, and he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

And then she lets go.

Her silent tears morph into heaving sobs as all of the pain and fear and loneliness rips through her chest and spills forth into the crook of Sideswipe's neck. He keeps his arms firmly around her, almost too tight, but she's kind of glad for it, an added reminder that he's here and that he's real. One hand combs through her hair, his mouth making soothing noises against her ear, and he gently rocks her back and forth.

When she finally quiets down she can feel exhaustion pull at her once more, all the firmer after her tears and now that the adrenalin has worn off. Her body wants sleep so that she can finally fully heal, but she's afraid to sleep. She's afraid that all of this will turn out to be just a dream and she'll wake up back in that place, still drugged and still tied down to the bed.

"You'll be right here when I wake up, right?" Ari asks, already losing the battle with her eyelids as they slip closed.

"Of course I will, sweetspark," Sideswipe says, kissing her forehead. "I love you. So much."

She snuggles closer to him, a smile tugging at her lips tiredly. "Love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hate writing action sequences. I hope that was okay. I know some of you wanted to see the Autobots fighting and all but this seemed the more logical route to me.
> 
> But Ari is with Sideswipe and safe again, yay!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	63. Speculation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, some of your questions will be answered and some new questions will be asked. You'll find out how I've prepared my version of "Dylan Gould" but I still have a few cards left up my sleeve that you won't be seeing yet.
> 
> And fluff. There's fluff here, which we've been sorely lacking lately.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Ari awakes with a start, heart racing, and for one terrifying moment she's frozen, unable to move. She's still strapped down, still drugged, still the subject of Dr. Schmidt's experiments.

But then there's a hand cupping her face and a voice in her ear, a soothing voice, one she knows, and she opens her eyes.

She's not trapped. She's not strapped to a bed with an I.V. in her arm. She lifts a shaking hand to Sideswipe's face, just to prove to herself that she can, and touches her fingertips to his jaw. He's still in holoform, sitting in his alt mode with her in his lap just like how she fell asleep, but the tactical gear is gone now, leaving less layers between them. Making it easier to feel the warmth of his spark.

"Sweetspark, you alright?" Sideswipe ask, worry shining in his deep blue eyes as his thumb strokes her cheek.

"This is real?" she asks, just to be sure.

He tightens his hold on her. "Yeah, this is real. You're safe now. I've got you and I'm never letting you go again."

She smiles wistfully. "That would be nice. Every time there's any kind of fighting and we get separated, something bad happens."

He kisses her forehead but doesn't move away, just sort of resting his mouth against her head. "That's why I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again, even if you get sick of me."

"I won't get sick of you." She drops her hand to the collar of his shirt, clenching the fabric in her fingers. A whimper builds in the back of her throat but she swallows it down. "I...I missed you."

"Primus, I missed you too," he says, voice sounding choked. "I-I was so lost without you, Ari. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to find you, and I just felt so helpless." He buries his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. She can't smell good right now, she can't even remember the last time she had a shower, but he doesn't seem to care in the least. "I was so scared I was going to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me, Sideswipe," she says emphatically. "Never. I won't let anyone take me away from you, I promise."

"But they did take you away. And I couldn't do anything to stop them."

"No." She shakes her head, leaning back away from him so she can look him in the eye. "No, don't do that, Sideswipe. There's nothing anyone could have done. We just...we trusted the wrong person. _I_ thought I was safe with Lando, that's why I went with him, but I was wrong. We were all wrong."

His jaw clenches, his eyes going almost as dark as a twilight sky. "I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on that fragger."

"Already done. Natasha took care of him. I saw it myself."

He looks a little bit disappointed but nods anyway. "Good."

There's still a little furrow in his brow that she doesn't like, though, so she tugs on his collar until he leans his head down and she presses a soft kiss to it. The furrow gradually evens out beneath her lips and she pulls back to see that he no longer looks so troubled. Ari doesn't want to think of the ifs and maybes anymore. She doesn't want to think about what they should have and could have done. She was taken. No one could stop it. It was no one's fault except for the ones who took her. That is all. Right now, all she wants to do is revel in being safe with the one she loves.

Tugging on his collar again, she brings him back down to kiss him, slow and sweet until the remaining tension leaves his shoulders and he relaxes into her. She then leans up, deepening the kiss with a swipe of her tongue to his bottom lip. He opens up for her, allowing her to go at her own pace as their tongues stroke each other.

She just feels for a few minutes, letting pleasure and sensation take over to erase the horrors of what she went through, even though she knows she's nowhere near finished with it yet. There will be debriefings and meetings and many other occasions where she's going to have to talk about it, but right here, right now, none of that matters, and it will be the memory of _this_ moment that gets her through all the rest.

Right now, she is completely safe. Nothing can touch her.

Sideswipe grumbles in annoyance as he pulls back, glaring at something through the windshield.

"What is it?" she asks curiously, following his gaze, and for the first time she realizes they're in their room, back at base. It's just the two of them, the bedroom door firmly shut.

"The others are getting impatient," he says, his hand absently rubbing circles along her back. "Ratchet just informed me that he'll put me in stasis lock and force me to give you up if he doesn't get to examine you soon. Though it won't be easy for him to get past Sunny."

She chuckles softly. "He's just worried. I should probably get checked out anyway, just to…," she swallows heavily, "just to make sure there are no lasting effects."

He adjusts her in his arms and she shifts with him until her head is resting in the crook of his shoulder again, burying her face in his neck. She can feel the questions burning in him, wanting to know what was done to her during her capture, wanting to know if she's alright. He doesn't voice them, though, knowing this is going to be hard for her, something she's going to want to talk about as few times as possible. She presses a grateful kiss to the underside of his jaw and they continue to sit in comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying this little bubble they've made for themselves blocking out the rest of the world.

Loud banging makes the bubble pop and Ari sighs deeply. "We better go before someone gets hurt."

He echoes her sigh. "If we have to."

She gets Sideswipe to give a message to the others that she'll be out soon and then she retreats to the bathroom for a quick shower and a change of clothes, thoroughly removing all of the dirt and grime from the past few days. She gets out, dries herself off, and wearing a pair of yoga pants and a baggy shirt, she starts to feel more like herself.

Sideswipe is waiting for her when she steps out, in his bipedal mode, and he's quick to lift her up into his arms. She sighs, but for an entirely different reason this time. It's just so good to see him, the real him. She holds a hand up to him and he hoists her higher along his chassis, so that she can cup the side of his faceplates with a hand to lead his lips down to hers for a kiss. The swirl of emotions is almost overwhelming for a moment. Happiness, fear, anger, desperation, grief, elation, relief. Love. It surges through both of them and they share it, supporting each other so that they stay above the torrential waters.

And then they float, contentment wrapping around them like a warm blanket.

Ari pulls back only to wrap her arms around his neck and burrow into the crook of his shoulder, just like how she was with his holoform. "Come on. Let's go reassure everyone that I'm okay."

Sideswipe opens the bedroom door, revealing Sunstreaker on the other side. Sunny is standing in the doorway, back to them, arms crossed, guarding the room so that no one can get in. He looks at them over his shoulder at the sound of the door opening, optics flitting between them questioningly.

"It's alright, Sunny," Ari says. "I'm ready now."

He nods to her and steps aside, revealing a very crowded hallway full of both humans and Cybertronians, with the humans perched on Autobot shoulders so as to keep them from being squished. She smiles at the sight, all of them trying to ask, all at once, if she's okay. They must have been worried and she doesn't know who to reassure first. There's just...so many of them now. Her family has grown so much over the years.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's okay, everyone, it's okay," she says, raising her voice to be heard over everyone else and they quiet down. "Seriously, I'm okay."

Ratchet levels a look at her, a look that makes her duck her head. "Who is chief medical officer?" he demands.

She rolls her eyes but a smile tugs at her lips. "You are."

She succumbs to Ratchet's outstretched hand, allowing him to pick her up to complete his scans, and she's twitchy throughout the entire thing. Right now, everything is just...not okay, not really, despite what she tells them. She just wants to stay with Sideswipe and not leave his side for a while.

A shrink would probably find that worrying but she just doesn't give a frag right now. It's been a long couple of days.

Speaking of which, she asks, "How long was I...gone?" There's a pause that's almost palpable as glances are exchanged. It makes her shift uncomfortably. She doesn't want pity. She doesn't want them to tip-toe. She doesn't need any of that. She's stronger than that. "Come on guys. Someone spit it out."

"Two days," Optimus says stoically. "Sixty hours, to be precise.

"Oh," she says in quiet surprise as Ratchet gives her back to Sideswipe and Sides wraps her in his arms again. "It...felt a lot longer than that."

"Well, any injuries sustained during your capture are now fully healed," Ratchet says with a satisfied smile. "You're completely healthy."

Ari nods absently, burrowing closer to Sideswipe. Who's going to be the first to ask?

"What happened, Ari?" Phil asks from atop Optimus's shoulder, and really, she shouldn't be surprised. Always the agent, always working, seeking as much information as possible. "What happened while you were with them?"

"Can't it wait?" Will asks, sitting on Ironhide's shoulder, Rob on the other. She feels a twinge of guilt, at worrying her dad so much, at not immediately going to him for a reassuring hug, but she just…can't bear the thought of moving away from Sideswipe right now, no more than she already has. "She looks exhausted."

"We need to find out what happened so we know if any repercussions are going to come from whatever they did, and so we can figure out whatever it is the Decepticons are planning. This isn't over yet and we need as much information as we can get. The sooner we get it, the better, when it's freshest."

"But-"

"Phil's right, Dad," Ari says with a sad smile. "There's a lot that happened that I need to tell you all about and it's better to do it now. I may end up forgetting something if I wait and I don't want to avoid it. I just want it over with."

Will's jaw clenches, not liking it, but he says, "Alright. Let's move this to the war room, though. Less eyes and ears that way."

They file down the hallway to the war room, anxiety coiling in Ari's stomach, but it's better this way. She can't just shove her head under a rock and pretend it didn't happen, and she doesn't want to.

She's not looking forward to the nightmares, though.

When they get there the room is empty of all the usual techs, their computer stations vacant. Will, Rob, Phil, Clint, and Natasha all settle into chairs on the scaffold in the middle of the room while the Autobots form a circle around it. Ari isn't ready to leave Sideswipe yet, by the way he tightens his arms around her he isn't ready to give her up either, so she stays where she is while Sideswipe stands in the middle of the circle right next to the scaffold.

And she takes them through the events of her kidnapping, torture, and rescue, from the moment she entered the safe room to the moment she entered the parking garage. She tells them about the drug they used to try to get her to spill secrets and weakness, hoping to use something to get the Autobots to leave the planet. She tells them of the machine designed to steal her power so that anyone can use it. She tells them of Dr. Schmidt, who turned out to be Scalpel, and how she killed him.

She tells them about Ron and his new identity as Dylan Gould.

Hours later, Clint rubs a tired hand over his face. "It makes no sense. You said Anti-Alien broke Ron out of jail, right?"

"That's what the evidence suggested," Phil says. "They left their calling card and everything."

"But when I tried to tell them that Gould was actually Ron, they were confused," Ari says, shaking her head with her own confusion. She's glad they've decided to focus on something other than what was done to her, glad that they haven't forced her to go into too much detail. She doesn't want to have to relive that pain. But the speculation, trying to lay the facts out straight and make some sort of sense of them, it helps to draw her away from the memories. "They didn't know anything about my biological father or of any breakouts. Maxwell really thinks Ron's name is Dylan Gould."

"That's because it is," Natasha says. There are several computers set up on top of the scaffold, one of which Natasha has been typing away at for the past several minutes. Now, she leans back in her chair, tapping a finger on the monitor. "Ron Witwicky no longer exists."

"What?" several voices exclaim incredulously and the humans on the scaffold crowd around Natasha to get a look at her computer.

"Ron doesn't exist," Natasha explains. "His entire record has vanished from every database in the world, including S.H.I.E.L.D.'s. There is no Ron Witwicky. It's like there never was."

"What about my adoption?" Ari asks. "The trial?"

Natasha shakes her head. "All gone, and the adoption papers have been altered to make it look like you were in an orphanage since birth and were adopted by the Lennox's at the age of sixteen. There's no trace of him anywhere."

"Who could even do something like that?" Clint asks.

"The Decepticons," Optimus says, optics narrowed in thought. "More specifically, Soundwave. It would be a simple matter for him to erase Ron's existence, even from systems not readily accessible."

"But why would they do that?" Rob asks, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "What's their motive?"

"That depends on who they made him into," Phil says, placing a hand on the back of Natasha's chair and leaning over her slightly. "What do we have on Dylan Gould?"

Natasha's fingers fly across the keyboard, bringing up another file in just a few minutes. "We have a file on a Dylan Victor Hamilton, age forty-four, born in Mission City, Nevada. He was raised by his mother, Patricia Hamilton, who died when he was eighteen. Has a Masters in Business Administration from Berkeley and after that he kind of falls off the grid." She scrolls through the file, pausing when she gets to what looks like some kind of news article. "At least, until recently. According to this, he's the son of Gregson Gould."

Phil's brow arches in surprise. "Gregson Gould? As in the C.E.O. of Hotchkiss Gould Investments?"

"Yep. He's also on the board of directors for Accuretta Systems, one of the leading companies in telecommunications and aerospace in the world. Or, at least, he was. He died a couple of months ago. Heart attack."

"Coincidence?" Will asks.

"Could be. He was seventy-three. But that's not even the weirdest part. Gregson Gould didn't have any heirs, until a week after his death. Dylan Hamilton came forward claiming to be his son by way of mistress. He presented a paternity test and everything. He then changed his name from Hamilton to Gould and took over the family business, even managing to worm his way into his father's seat on the Accuretta board."

"Is that even legal?"

"Shortly after the son came forward, Gregson Gould's will was opened. According to the will, he knew he had a son. He willed everything to Dylan. After that, it would have just been a matter of well-placed business connections and buttering up board members." She scrolls down even further, bringing up a picture of Dylan Gould. Of Ron, just as Ari had seen him. "Someone has gone through a lot of trouble turning Ron Witwicky into Dylan Gould. I'm not even sure what's real and what's fake."

"This is without a doubt the Decepticons' doing," Optimus rumbles. "They must have broken Ron out of prison and then left the Anti-Alien symbol behind to throw us off. But to what end?"

Natasha leans back in her seat again with a huff. "That, I can't tell you. If I had to guess, the real need was for Dylan Gould to exist, not necessarily for Ron Witwicky specifically to play that role. That's more than likely just convenience."

"Yeah, to conveniently creep me out," Ari says, hands curling around Sideswipe arm. "They did it to mess with me."

Though how, exactly, they plan on using Ron to mess with her in the future, she can't say. But it won't be about just playing a role. It'll be about breaking her down, using all of her deepest fears against her.

"All of that makes sense and all," Rob says, "but then what about Anti-Alien? What do they have to do with all of this?"

"They were the distraction," Clint offers, perched precariously on the scaffold railing near Natasha's computer. "The Decepticons had Gould feed Anti-Alien money, keep them in business, keep them dangerous, so that we'd have no choice but to go after them. Keep our focus away from their real end goal."

"What end goal?" Sideswipe asks, his body practically bowed around her protectively. "What are they really planning?"

"Ari, you said that Ron wanted Dr. Schmidt to find a way to extract your powers in order to create energon?" Ratchet asks.

Ari nods. "That's right. They said something about him wanting to use it for his company." Her brow furrows. "Only Dr. Schmidt turned out to be Scalpel and it was his machine. So if Ron is really working for the Decepticons, then it's the Decepticons who want the energon. Does that mean their energon supplies are running low?"

"It could be," Optimus says "but you said the machine's purpose was to extract raw power from you. That power could be used for anything, not just the production of energon." He turns to Phil, optics suddenly very serious. "Was the machine recovered during the raid on Anti-Alien's base?"

Phil actually grimaces, his mask slipping. "No. No, we did not. We swept through the building, rounding up the rest of Anti-Alien, but we didn't find anything like the machine Ari describes. But we did find Maxwell's body."

* * *

It is rare for Soundwave to be down from his orbit high in the Earth's atmosphere. His hulking form is unused to his bipedal mode after so long in his alt mode as a satellite, hacking and monitoring to meet his leader's needs. But Megatron has new needs currently, needs that force Soundwave to touch down on this disgusting planet.

He awaits an ally, standing as still as the stone statues these fleshlings are oddly fond of. The Nevada desert night is cold but the cold does not bother him. This is warm compared to the darkness of space.

A fluttering shadow in the distance catches his attention, his optics narrowing to make out Laserbeak approaching, a mechanical sphere clutched in his claws. Scalpel is supposed to be with him but there is no sign of the doctor.

"Laserbeak, report," Soundwave demands as the vulture-like bot drops the machine in his waiting palm and then perches on his shoulder.

"Scalpel has been offlined," Laserbeak squawks. "By the fleshling AllSpark."

Soundwave growls. "An unfortunate setback." He turns the sphere over in his hands, looking it over curiously. "Is the machine functional?"

"No, but Scalpel was close. His processor was mostly still intact when I found him and I was able to retrieve some data. It should be enough for us to finish the machine ourselves."

"Cleanup?"

"I disposed of Scalpel's remains, killed the Anti-Alien leader, and tucked 'Mr. Gould' away for safekeeping so he can continue his predecessor's work of barring any humans from getting to the Moon. The Autobots and their fleshlings have killed or captured the rest. Anti-Alien can be of no more use to us."

"Unimportant. The pawns have fulfilled their purposes. The mission was successful. Time to report to Lord Megatron to plan the next phase."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say, Transformers wikis were a lifesaver for me this chapter. It allowed me to get all the facts on just what Gould's job was in the movie without having to take the actual time to watch it. It also allowed me to get a tentative timeline for the rest of this fic.
> 
> Wow, I can't believe I can see the end already.
> 
> Anyway, so the next phase is underway and we're getting closer and closer to Dark of the Moon. I hope my Laserbeak was okay. I really wasn't sure how to write him, but he needed to be in it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	64. Going Against Tradition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has something I'm sure you all have been waiting for.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Clint and Natasha shift the focus of their investigation. With Anti-Alien in shambles, they devote their time and resources to finding Ron, or Dylan Gould as he goes by now.

The only problem is, he's disappeared.

They go to his office, they go to his listed home address, but they don't find him in either place. How he's managing to stay the head of a company while being so hands-off, Ari isn't sure, but no one in his employment seems to mind that he does everything remotely, communicating mostly through phone, email, and video calling. Natasha tries to trace the signals of any of them, all of them, but she just keeps getting thrown into endless loops, the signal origin leapfrogging across the globe. Tracking his finances is just as bad.

They know he's out there, somewhere, but they just can't find him. But Natasha and Clint promise not to give up. It's not really comforting, though. Ron is out there, the Decepticons are out there, and they want her. Scalpel didn't get to finish his work, so how long will it be until the next attack? The next kidnapping attempt?

She doesn't feel safe at the base anymore and it's suffocating.

One good thing out of all of this is that training is postponed for the foreseeable future, so they can fix all the damage from when Anti-Alien attacked. It's not much, really, but everyone pitches in, everyone needing a bit of a breather, and construction is oddly normal after the past few weeks.

But the tightness doesn't loosen in Ari's chest, not until Will decides that the reconstruction is a good opportunity to go home for a few days. She hasn't been home in months, ever since training began, and the thought of seeing the house again, of seeing her mom and sister again, it has her packing her bags and ready to go within minutes.

Primus, she didn't realize how homesick she is.

Rob reassures Will that he can handle things while they're gone, so Ari and Will both return home on a Friday morning, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ironhide in tow. The drive is pleasant enough, the early morning sun just starting to rise. Ari uses the time to doze for a little bit, not full sleep but a state between waking and sleeping.

She hasn't been sleeping very well since she got back. Well, more like she hasn't been sleeping _at all_ , but actively avoiding allowing herself to fully drift off in order to avoid the nightmares.

She doesn't want to go back to that place again, even if it is all inside her head.

It's working well enough. She knows it's how Clint and probably Natasha both sleep. The thing is, they're used to it. Missions usually mean they have to catch sleep however and whenever they can, never for very long and always with one eye open.

Ari isn't used to it at all. It's draining her, making the bags under her eyes darker and heavier. It's working, _for now_ , but for now won't be for much longer. The exhaustion pulls at her, making her body feel heavy and her mind struggles to concentrate. This can't go on but the alternative is unthinkable right now.

When she feels Sideswipe's tires move from paved road to dirt she opens her eyes. There it is, the farmhouse, Sarah standing on the porch steps in stained jeans, boots, and a flannel shirt that probably originally belonged to Will because of how baggy it is on her.

Home.

Ironhide pulls up to the house first and he's not even fully stopped before Will is scrambling out of his alt mode and running towards his wife. Sarah practically launches herself off the porch steps and into her husband's arms, the two of them coming together in a fierce embrace.

Ari steps out of Sideswipe's alt mode with downturned eyes as Will and Sarah kiss, feeling like she's intruding on a private moment. She knows they're her parents and they consider her their daughter, but they've still been together so much longer than they've known her. She's stepped into the middle of this family and she still feels like an outsider sometimes.

"Ari," Sarah calls out to her and she looks up to see Sarah's small, understanding smile. Sarah holds out her arms to Ari and she doesn't hesitate for a second, running to her parents. Sarah wraps Ari up in her arms and Will steps closer to wrap the both of them in his arms.

Ari closes her eyes, resting her head on Sarah's shoulder, feeling warm and safe surrounded by her parents.

It's so good to be home.

Maybe now her mind can settle enough for real sleep to not be so hard.

"I love you," Ari mumbles into Sarah's shirt.

Sarah holds her tighter. "I love you too, baby. Welcome home."

Will drops a kiss on the top of Ari's head. "Come on. Let's go inside. I think I smell breakfast."

"Oh, Primus, yes," Ari groans. "An actual home-cooked meal sounds awesome."

"Hey, military food isn't _that_ bad," Will says, but when Ari raises a brow at him he caves pretty fast. "Okay, maybe it is."

Sarah laughs. "Well, come on then. Let's go get some grub."

As Will and Sarah turn to head inside Ari looks back at Sideswipe, still in his alt mode though Sunstreaker and Ironhide have already moved off in their bipedal forms. She holds a hand out to him and Sideswipe's holoform blinks on right next to her, taking her hand and squeezing reassuringly. She may be home, but she still doesn't want him leaving her.

Hand in hand, they follow her parents into the house and through the doorway to the left of the entryway to go into the kitchen. As soon as they're through the doorway a high-pitched squeal makes Ari stop in her tracks.

"Ri-Ri, Ri-Ri, Ri-Ri!" Annabelle chants excitedly, wiggling in her high chair at the kitchen table to try to escape.

Ari laughs, going over to the little girl and picking her up. "And how are you doing, little Miss Annie?" Ari coos, spinning around in circles with Annabelle held high. Annie's giggle rings in the air but Ari can't keep it up for long, settling the little girl on her hip. "Man, you've gotten big, Annie. I can hardly carry you anymore."

"No," Annabelle pouts, securing her little arms around Ari's neck.

"Oh, I'm not allowed to let you go, huh?"

Annabelle shakes her head defiantly.

Ari exchanges an amused grin with her parents over at the counter, Will getting a cup of coffee and Sarah transferring the scrambled eggs in the frying pan onto some plates. "So I always have to carry you around? I don't know if I can do that if you keep growing like this."

"No!" Annie says again, burrowing her head in Ari's neck. "Miss you, Ri-Ri. You can't leave if you carry me."

Ari's heart breaks a little bit, holding Annie tighter and nuzzling the top of her head. "I've missed you too, little sis, and I'm sorry I've been away so long. Hopefully that'll be changing soon."

Annie's head perks up, hope burning in her chubby little face haloed in curly blonde hair. "You're staying?"

"Not this time," Ari says on a sigh. "Me and dad have to go back at the end of the weekend."

"Oh." Practically Annie's entire body deflates with that one syllable. "When will you be back?"

"Soon, Annie. Soon. As soon as training is finished. Then I'll be able to stick around for a lot longer."

"Yay!" Annie chirps, clapping her hands excitedly, and Ari admires that about her little sister, how she can go from really sad to completely happy so fast.

"Alright, breakfast is ready," Sarah says and Ari deposits Annie back in her high chair so she can dive into the bowl of cereal Sarah puts in front of her. Quite literally.

"So, you planning on finishing N.E.S.T. training?" Sideswipe asks as the two of them take seats at the dining table.

"Of course," Ari says, accepting a plate of breakfast from Sarah with a smile. "I'm not going to let what happened stop me from doing what I want. If anything, it makes me want to finish it all the more. Some of the skills I learned came in handy."

"That's good to hear," Will says as he sits across from her at the table, setting down his own plate of food and his mug. "I was wondering if you were going to be coming back with us on Monday or not."

"Don't you think it's a bit soon?" Sarah asks, taking her place next to Will and Annie with the last plate of food. "I mean, if you need more time to recuperate, that's okay. You know that, right?"

Ari nods, taking a bite of thick bacon, chewing, and swallowing. "Yeah, I know, but I don't want what happened to stop me from doing what I want, you know? I want to finish training. Besides, it's not like they're going to stop and wait for me before training continues and I don't want to get left behind. I can't just halt my life." She takes another bite of bacon and shrugs. "I'll be fine."

If she just keeps going, keeps busy, maybe it'll help her get over it faster. It's always seemed to work before. This isn't exactly the first time she's gotten kidnapped.

It seems to be the worst time though.

Sideswipe glances over at her in concern but doesn't say anything, just steals a piece of bacon off of her plate before she can slap his hand away. She glares at him playfully and he smirks, taking a bite of his prize.

The rest of the day goes a lot like that. Ari spends time with her family, helping Will with the cows, Sarah with some housework, and plays with Annabelle. She gets some schoolwork done that she missed while she was "away" and just generally keeps busy, all with Sideswipe following her like a shadow.

He never leaves her side. Not once. It's almost clingy except for the fact that Ari finds it comforting. The thought of being alone right now isn't very appealing.

She stays up late watching a movie, surrounded by her family, Sunstreaker's holoform joining them in the living room while Ironhide stays outside to keep watch. They pick a murder mystery and Ari lets herself get drawn into the storyline, Sideswipe's fingers carding through her hair a very nice additional distraction as she leans against his chest on the couch.

Annabelle is put to bed before they plug in the movie, Will and Sarah retiring about an hour later, unable to keep their eyes open. When the movie ends, Ari goes outside to lay out in the field with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, stargazing. They haven't been able to do this in a really long time, not with the traitor on the loose. They never felt safe enough to do it so it's nice to have the opportunity again.

But it can't last, no matter how much Ari wants it to. She tries to keep her eyes open, but close to midnight they start to droop and her yawns come more and more frequently.

"I think it's about time all the fleshies get to bed," Sunstreaker says from where he's lying next to his brother.

"Nuh uh," Ari mumbles, trying to burrow down further into Sideswipe's chassis.

"Ari, he's right," Sideswipe says. "You should get to bed."

"I don't wanna," she protests.

"It's cold out here. You'll be more comfortable in your own bed."

As if to prove his point, a brisk wind blows over them, making Ari shiver. Nevada may have some of the warmest temperatures in the country, but it can also get really cold here, especially at night, and it'll only get colder as they get deeper into fall and closer to winter. Still, Ari shakes her head. "Nope. Don't care."

"Well, I do." Sideswipe stands up, cradling Ari in his arms and rolling back towards the house. "You may not be able to get sick anymore but you'll be miserable out here in just your sleep tank and shorts."

"Then I'll put on some warmer clothes," Ari mumbles as Sideswipe sets her down on the front porch, forcing her to stand on her own if she doesn't want to fall. She glares up at him but he ignores it.

"But you'll be warmer inside the house." Sideswipe gives her his best impersonation of puppy dog eyes. She didn't think metal faceplates could pull off the look very well but...Sideswipe does it _really_ well, with big, wide blue optics and even jutting out his bottom lip a little, staring down at her pleadingly. "Come on, Ari. For me? Please?"

Slaggit, how does he _do_ that?

She sighs deeply. "Fine," she relents. "I'll go inside."

Sideswipe's face instantly changes to a bright grin. "Thank you. Goodnight, Ari. Love you."

She rolls her eyes but smiles, turning towards the house. "Night, Sides. Love you too."

It's because she loves him that she does as he asks. She knows he's just worried about her. He probably thinks that a comfortable bed will help her sleep, but she knows it won't.

And she's right. It doesn't help her sleep. Not at all. Instead, she has her first full-fledged nightmare, the kind that she can't wake herself up from, the kind that feels so real she doesn't even know she should try to wake herself up. The kind where, when she does finally wake up, she wakes up screaming, ghost pains from the drugs coursing up and down her body.

Hands grab at her arms, hands she doesn't recognize at first, and she flails, fighting against them. There's yelling from several different voices. She can hear her name and that makes her hesitate for just a second.

The ones who've hurt her, they never use her name. They never call her Ari.

In that second, a face fills her vision, and she blinks her eyes rapidly in order to clear the fuzziness.

Sideswipe. It's Sideswipe's holoform, looking down at her with such concern. As soon as that registers she flings herself up to wrap her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life as tremors shake through her. Her breathing is fast, almost hyperventilating, but then the sobs start to tear out of her chest and it becomes hard to breathe.

Sideswipe's arms wrap around her tightly, rocking back and forth. "Ari, are you alright?" Sideswipe asks. "Are you hurt?" He tries to push her away a little bit to look her over but she curls one hand into the hair at the base of his neck and holds him still. He gets the hint and just holds her close, whispering soothing words in her ear as her tears dampen his shirt.

It's not until she starts to calm down that Ari becomes aware of other people in the room, their hands stroking down her hair and back. She sniffles, her breathing calming to a steady rhythm, but she doesn't move away from Sideswipe for several minutes.

"Are you okay?" she hears Will ask and Ari lifts her head to see him over Sideswipe's shoulder sitting on the bed, Sarah next to him.

Sunstreaker's and Ironhide's holoforms are here, too, leaning against the wall near the window, but at Will's words Ironhide pushes off of the wall and smacks Will upside the head.

"Ow!" Will yelps, rubbing the back of his head and shooting Ironhide a dirty look. "What was that for?"

"For asking a stupid question, my friend," Ironhide says, shaking his head in disapproval.

Will ducks his head, glancing at Ari apologetically. She just smiles but doesn't answer his question. As Ironhide says, it's pretty obvious what the answer is.

"What do you need, Ari?" Sarah asks, brushing away strands of hair from Ari's forehead where sweat is making them stick to her skin. "Is there anything we can do that will help?"

Ari's eyes lower of their own accord, like a little girl admitting she drew on the walls in crayon. "I want to stay with Sideswipe outside."

She feels bad about it for some reason. Her parents want to help her so much, but honestly, there's nothing they can do that will make things better. She just wants to be with Sideswipe.

Sarah sighs heavily but smiles, leaning up to kiss Ari on the forehead. "Okay, baby. Let's get you bundled up. It's a bit chilly outside."

Sarah moves to the dresser to get a pair of pajama pants while Will digs an oversized hoodie out of the closet. Ari pulls on both over the clothes she's already wearing and then grabs the comforter from the bed, pulling it around her shoulders.

Ari holds Sideswipe's hand through it all, keeping him close to her side, but now he tries to tug out of her grasp. She lets out a small whine of protest and holds on tighter.

Sideswipe smiles at her softly, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "I have to go so I can come get you. I'll just be a minute, promise."

She knows he's right but it still takes her an embarrassingly long moment to make her hand let go.

Sideswipe places a kiss to her lips and then stands, looking towards his brother. Sunstreaker nods and moves to take Sideswipe's place on the bed. He even, surprisingly, takes Ari's hand. And then Sideswipe's holoform blinks out.

"You need anything else, sweety?" Sarah asks, her and Will standing in the doorway.

Ari shakes her head. "No, I think I'll be okay now."

At least, she hopes she'll be.

"At least _try_ to get some sleep, alright?" Will says. Ari smiles and nods, neither of them expecting her to actually make a promise like that, but they take it as good enough. Will and Sarah go back to their room to try to catch more sleep themselves, leaving Ari alone with Sunstreaker and Ironhide.

"Thank you," Ari whispers, squeezing Sunny's hand tightly. "I know you don't like to touch squishies like me."

"Squishies aren't so bad, I guess," he says, not nearly as begrudging as he'd normally be. "At least, you aren't."

She snorts softly. "That's almost a compliment, coming from you."

"Just keep telling yourself that, Squishy."

Her lips crook up in a smile but they're not able to stay that way for long. "I'm tired, Sunny."

"I know," Sunstreaker says, not even complaining at her use of his nickname. "You'll be able to sleep soon."

"No, I…I'm tired of not feeling safe. I mean…are we really safe? Here? At the base?"

Sunstreaker doesn't answer for a moment, eyes focused on the window where Sideswipe is just peeking through. Ironhide quickly unlocks and opens the window up for her.

"I don't know," Sunny answers quietly, helping her to stand with a hand at her elbow and leading her over to the window. "But we promise to protect you. No matter what."

Ari swallows heavily and nods. Yeah, that's basically all she can ask for right now. "Thanks."

Keeping a firm hand on the blanket around her shoulders, Ari steps out of the window onto the roof and then into Sideswipe's waiting hand. There's a strong gust of wind with a biting chill but as soon as Sideswipe pulls her close to his chassis the cold is forgotten. She closes her eyes, the rocking of Sideswipe skating across the plains soothing the rest of the tension in her shoulders. After a few moments she feels him stop and lower to sit on the ground. When he doesn't lie down, though, she opens her eyes to look up at him.

"Everything alright, Sideswipe?" she asks, glancing around to see that they're sitting out near the cows away from where Sunstreaker is lying, already back in recharge. Ironhide is sitting at the front of the house, keeping guard.

"Is it?" he counters, drawing his knees up to help protect her from the wind.

Ari shifts so she's lying comfortably in the cradle of his arms and can look up at his face with a reassuring smile, the blanket tucked around her. "I'm fine, Sideswipe. It was just a nightmare. You know those aren't exactly uncommon for me."

"Nightmares usually don't make you wake up screaming."

The smile drops from her face with a sigh. As much as she doesn't want Sideswipe to worry, she can't lie to him. It's never exactly been a thing she's good at since he always sees right through her. "I'm scared," she whispers quietly.

"Because you don't feel safe?" Sideswipe's faceplates screw up in pain and Ari sighs again. Of course Sunstreaker wouldn't keep his mouth shut about that. "Ari, you know we'll protect-"

"No, no," she holds up a hand for him to stop, "I know that. I feel safe when I'm with you. That's why I wanted to come out here with you instead of staying in that room a second longer. It's just…."

Sideswipe adjusts his hold on her so that he can slip a hand beneath her head, his thumb stroking the side of her face. "Just what?"

She leans into his hand, the movement of his thumb across her skin steading her. "I'm tired of always looking over my shoulder. Sure, the traitor is gone now and Anti-Alien is in shambles, but there are still the Decepticons. With Ron and Scalpel's involvement, I _know_ the Decepticons were the real ones behind everything. I can feel it. That means none of this is over and there's still more to come. Whatever it is they're planning, we haven't seen the end of it yet, so what's to keep them from attacking again? They know where to find me. They know where the base is, where my school is. Slag, they probably know where home is."

Ari looks over at the farmhouse. It seems so fragile at night, the moonlight gleaming off of the pale wood like porcelain. Against a Decepticon, it might as well be porcelain. Once swift kick and the entire house would shatter into a million pieces, their quiet life here broken beyond repair.

This is where her family lives. Sarah. Annabelle. Would the Decepticons go after them?

"That's why I don't feel safe, Sideswipe," she says softly, never taking her eyes off the house, "because I feel like I'm just waiting for them to attack again."

"I _will_ keep you safe," Sideswipe growls, body curling around her protectively. "I won't let them touch you."

Ari looks up at him, feeling her own hopelessness reflected in his optics. "Is that really something you can promise? Because if they decide to go after my family and use them as leverage, I'll give myself up to them. Just like I did when Lando was going to kill Trent. I won't let them hurt anyone else just to get to me, especially not my family."

Sideswipe shakes his head desperately. "It won't come to that."

"But what if they give me no choice?"

"No." Sideswipe's vocal processor sounds thick, almost like he's close to tears. He shifts her higher in his arms so that he can press his forehead to hers, his face filling her vision, and there is so much pain there. "I can't lose you again, Ari. I _can't_."

Ari's eyes burn with her own unshed tears, helplessness twisting her chest until it feels like her flesh will be torn out. "I know. But that's what I see in my nightmares. That's what I see every time I close my eyes. I'm afraid for the moment they try again and I feel like a sitting duck until they do."

"Maybe this is my fault," Sideswipe mumbles, almost to himself. "Maybe I'm the reason your nightmares have gotten so bad. I failed you too many times. I failed to keep you safe like I promised and now you don't feel safe anywhere. Even with me."

Ari sighs tiredly. "Please, Sides, not this again. I told you, none of it is your fault."

"Yes, it is!" he spits out angrily. Ari stays still, knowing the anger isn't at her, but she doesn't like it all the same. Not from Sideswipe. She's seen him mad at the Decepticons, mad at Ron, but never this kind of anger. "I swore I would protect you and I failed! I failed to keep them away from you. I failed to keep you from being taken. I failed as your Guardian and I failed as your..."

"Do not say you failed as my boyfriend," she snaps harshly. "And you didn't fail as my Guardian either. I'm here, Sideswipe, I'm here and whole and okay."

"No, you're not. You don't feel safe in your own home."

"But I feel safe with you!" She can feel moisture on her face and she wipes at the tears in frustration. "That's why I wanted to stay out here with you, Sideswipe. Being with you makes me feel safe, even if I don't always know it in the nightmares."

"But I can't actually keep you safe." His grip loosens on her, almost as if he's about to put her down, and her heart launches into her throat. "Maybe...maybe it would be better if you had someone else."

She balks. "What, as a Guardian?"

His optics look away from her, out towards the cows, and the metal in his jaw tightens. "As everything."

"No!" She disentangles herself from the blanket to sit up, taking his face in her hands, but he refuses to look at her. "No, Sideswipe, I don't want anyone else! For anything!" Her breath hitches, throat choking painfully with the tears she's struggling to keep back. "I...I love you. You're the only one for me, on this or any planet."

"Ari, please be reasonable-"

"Reasonable!" Her voice squeaks on the word. "You think _I'm_ not the one being reasonable? You're the one who sounds like you're breaking up with me for no reason."

His optics finally meet her eyes, looking more pained than she's ever seen them, even when he was slowly offlining. "I...I'm not good for you, Ari. You need someone who can keep you safe for real, not just promises that turn out empty."

"Well, there's no one like that out there, no one who could have kept me safe, so I guess this leaves me with no one then."

"Ari-"

"No, Sideswipe. You make it sound like keeping me safe should be the simplest thing in the world when it's not. I have more enemies than should be possible for any single person. I probably have more enemies than even I know of. You can't possibly keep me safe from all of them. It's not humanly possible."

"But it should have been possible for me."

She smacks at his shoulder with the palm of her hand, not hard because she doesn't want to break herself and she knows it doesn't hurt him at all no matter how hard she hits, but she just needs to hit something. She almost wishes he was in holoform right now. The slap would have sounded more satisfying at least. "Cybertronians aren't unstoppable, no more than humans are. I don't care if you're big and metal, that doesn't mean you can do the impossible."

"I should try."

"You do try. Every day, you try to do the impossible for me and in a way, you do." She smiles up at him, wet and a little wobbly. "I'm happy Sideswipe. I'm really, really happy with you. Just a few years ago, happiness was an impossible concept to me, but because of you I'm so full of happiness that some days I feel I might burst with it. So don't you dare talk about taking yourself away from me, because with you so goes my happiness."

Sideswipe sighs, the release of breath draining all of the fight out of him as his shoulders sag. "You still deserve better than me."

"Slaggit, Sideswipe, what do I have to do to prove to you that I don't want anyone else and that nothing you say can change that?"

An idea flickers in her mind, just a fleeting spark, but Ari quickly catches it and lights on fire with Clint's words echoing in her ears, words spoken so long ago it seems now, words that she scoffed at before, but in this moment they make the most sense to her.

She can't give herself to Sideswipe in the way of his people, but she can give herself to him in the way of her people.

"Marry me," she says, before Sideswipe can speak and before she has a chance to second guess herself.

Whatever Sideswipe's words were going to be, they get snagged in his vocal processor and come out as a startled squawk. "W-What?"

"Marry me," she says again, her growing excitement at the idea making her feel like she's going to vibrate out of her skin. "Marry me the way that humans do. I know we can't go the whole nine yards, but a marriage license is just a piece of legal paper and we don't really need that. We could still do the ceremony, though. We can make it a promise to always be together and love each other no matter what." She lifts a hand to trace her finger around his lips, and they part slightly at her touch. "You said that we're meant to be together, that what we feel whenever we kiss is a sign of that. I don't want anyone else, Sideswipe. You're it for me and I want to get this stubborn idea out of your head that you're not good enough for me. You don't get to decide that. I do, and this is me choosing you. So let's do it. Let's tell the whole world, the universe, everyone, that I am yours and you are mine, and nothing anyone does will ever change that."

Sideswipe has such a gobsmacked looked that Ari would be laughing if her heart wasn't standing on a cliff waiting to hear one little word. His mouth opens and shuts several times and what ends up coming out is, "I-Isn't the guy supposed to ask the girl?"

She rolls her eyes, trying not to feel nervous that he hasn't answered her yet. "I don't care about tradition. We're not exactly traditional ourselves. So what do you say, Sideswipe? Will you marry me?"

Sideswipe scratches the back of his head apprehensively. "I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

Ari frowns, her heart slipping over the cliff and hanging on by fingernails. "Why?"

"Because," his mouth stretches into her favorite crooked grin, "Natasha had a specific order of events planned out for when I was going to propose to you and I'm afraid she'll slash my tires if we don't get to do it."

Ari beams, heart climbing back up and leaping in her chest. "You were going to propose?"

"Yeah. During our date that Friday. When I asked Natasha the best way to propose she took over the whole thing. Except for the ring, of course. I picked that out myself."

Ari bounces excitedly. "You got me a ring? Show me!"

"Hey, you were the one who proposed to me." His grin widens. "Doesn't that mean I'm the one who gets the ring?"

She glares up at him. "I don't think so, mister. That ring is definitely mine. Now come on, put it on me."

Sideswipe laughs but shifts her over to one arm so he can hold up his other to her, the compartment in his forearm opening. She reaches inside to retrieve the small velvet box she finds nestled there, turning it over in her hands like that will somehow reveal what's inside. Then, with a held breath, she opens the lid.

Ari has seen a lot of engagement rings in commercials on T.V. Most of them seem to be such gaudy things, all lit up with diamonds and other stones cluttered together like a Christmas tree.

The ring Sideswipe picked out for her isn't like that.

The band is white gold with the top half of the ring separating into two strand, one dotted with white diamonds, the other with blue diamonds, and the strands twining together in a delicate weave.

Like her and Sideswipe. Her heart, his spark, woven together by Primus, maybe even by Fate itself, unable to be pulled apart by anyone or anything.

"It's perfect," she whispers, brushing across the ring with her thumb like she's almost afraid it's some sort of illusion.

But it's there. This is real.

Sideswipe moves to take the ring out of the box but she holds it away from him.

"Ah ah ah," she taunts, grinning mischievously. "You never answered my question. Will you marry me, Sideswipe?"

He laughs. "Yes. Yes, I will. Even if Natasha offlines me."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't." This time when he reaches for the ring she lets him take it, holding it gently between his thumb and forefinger. It looks so tiny in his hand but he doesn't break it, always so aware of his own strength, especially when it's anything that has to do with her. She holds out her left hand to him and he slips it on her finger.

She holds it up, the moonlight catching on the diamonds, shining white and blue. "I love it." She looks up at him, tears brimming in her eyes again but these ones from overwhelming happiness. "I love you, Sideswipe."

He takes her left hand and raises it to his mouth to kiss it. "I love you too, Ari."

Someone snorts not far away and they both turn to see Sunstreaker, sitting up now and shaking his head at them. "Only you two would get engaged right after a fight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this went places I wasn't expecting. I didn't expect things to get so heated during their argument and I didn't expect to do the proposal this chapter, but it just...kinda happened? Yeah, the characters lead me more than I do them sometimes.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	65. Announcement…Sort Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Lots of fluff and laughter.
> 
> So, go onward and enjoy!

When Ari wakes the next day, the first thing she notices is an unfamiliar weight on the ring finger of her left hand. But then she remembers and a smile spreads across her face before she even opens her eyes. She rubs her thumb over the bottom of the ring band, just to make sure it is what she thinks it is, and then her eyelids flutter open to look at her hand resting near her head.

Her engagement ring is just as beautiful in the early morning sunlight as it had been in the moonlight.

She's lying on her stomach on top of Sideswipe's chassis, the slow, rhythmic thrumming of his spark telling her that he's still in recharge, so she just stays still for now, staring at her new ring. It's hard to believe she's engaged now, that she even had the courage to ask him to marry her. But all of the reasons she gave Clint for not doing it seemed pointless in that moment. And Sideswipe's stubbornness was driving her insane.

Clint's right. She doesn't care how long they have together. She just knows she wants to spend as much time as possible with Sideswipe.

Sideswipe's thumb shifts along her back and she grins as he moves to her left arm, along the bend of her elbow, and up to her hand, stroking her skin just beneath where her ring rests. She raises her head and props her chin on his chassis, looking up at him with a smile stretching across her face. "Good morning. My fiancé."

Sideswipe's answering grin is bright like the sun, the happiest she's seen him in a long time, since all the trouble with Anti-Alien started. "Morning. My fiancée." He lifts his hand to stroke a forefinger along the side of her face and Ari leans into the touch, humming in contentment. His optics flit across her face like he's trying to memorize it even though Ari knows he already did that a long time ago. "It's hard to believe that this is real, like my processor is glitching and I'm just waiting for it to recalibrate and all of this will fade away."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she murmurs softly. "This is like the best dream in the world and I don't want to wake up from it. But we won't wake up because it is real and every time I realize that I just…."

"Feel like you can fly," Sideswipe finishes for her and, yeah, that's as close as words can describe and Sideswipe gets that. He gets all of it because he feels it too.

Ari's smile widens. "Yeah. Exactly."

Sideswipe presses his lips to the top of her head. "So how did you sleep last night? Did you get any more at all?"

Ari casts her mind back to last night and realizes she really did sleep, and it was a good sleep. "Yeah," she says, surprised. "I didn't have any more nightmares at all."

"That's fantastic." His finger strokes her face again, lingering beneath one of her eyes. "And you look more rested too."

"Hopefully my good luck lasts for a while." Ari knows the nightmares definitely aren't over. She'll probably have them all her life. But she's going to take the good nights when she can get them.

And being with Sideswipe makes any night better.

But that thought makes her think of everything else that happened last night, of what almost happened, and her smile falters.

Sideswipe's brow furrows. "You alright, Ari?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's just…." She pushes herself up with her hands and Sideswipe gets the hint, holding her carefully as he sits up. He places her on one of his bent knees and sits quietly, waiting her out.

Ari chews on her bottom lip. "Can you just...do me a favor?"

"Yeah, of course." Sideswipe brushes hair away from her face with his fingers and she catches his hand, holding it tightly in her lap. His optics flit over her in concern. "Ari, are you okay?"

"Mmhm. It's just...don't ever talk like you're going to leave again, okay? Not if it's just to protect me, because it's not. Protecting me, I mean." She looks down at their clasped hands, no longer able to look at him. They're so different, their hands. One metal, one flesh. One big, one small. One Cybertronian, one human. But they fit together just right. "The thought of you leaving, it _hurts_ , Sideswipe. It hurts so much more than being kidnapped and tortured ever did. If you left for you, if you left because...you didn't love me anymore, that I could handle. It would still hurt but I could handle it because it was something you wanted. But anything else is just..." She grips his hand harder, knuckles turning white. "I don't want to lose you, Sideswipe."

"Hey, hey," Sideswipe says softly, using his other hand to curl a finger under her chin and tilt her head up to look at him. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm sorry I...said that stuff. I wasn't thinking clearly; wasn't thinking about what it would do to you. I won't talk about leaving again. I promise."

Ari nods, a small smile on her face. "Good. And when we're married that means you're stuck with me forever, I hope you know that."

"I think I can live with that," Sideswipe says with a large grin, leaning close to her until he can press his lips to hers. Ari can feel guilt and sincerity coming from him and she pushes her forgiveness and happiness back at him. She hadn't meant to make him feel guilty. She just wants to make sure that he's in this for real, that once they're married he won't try anything like that again.

She wants them to stick together through the ups and the downs. Through everything that might be thrown their way. Even when they're scared and uncertain and doubting themselves.

Because that's when it really counts.

Ari's stomach suddenly grumbles loudly and she leans back, chuckling sheepishly. "Guess I'm a bit hungry."

"I guess you are." Sideswipe sets her on the ground. "Come on. Let's go inside. Your parents should be up by now." He quickly transforms into his alt mode and blinks on his holoform right in front of her, his arms wrapping around her waist to pull her close. He grins devilishly. "And I'm sure they'll want to hear the news."

Ari laughs before wrapping her arms around his neck and closing the last little distance between them for a long, lingering kiss. When she finally pulls back it feels like sparks are running along her skin, straight down to her toes. "Yeah," she says quietly. "Sounds good."

Ari pulls back, grabbing his right hand with her left, and together they head towards the house, Ari being mindful of what's on the ground since she's barefoot and doesn't want to be stepping on any cow patties. They pass Sunstreaker along the way, sitting in his alt mode, and his holoform blinks on to join them. Rounding the side of the house to get to the front door, they then pass Ironhide, also in his alt mode, and his holoform blinks on at the top of the porch steps.

And Ironhide is wearing a very smug smile on his face.

"So," Ironhide says, leaning casually against one of the porch beams, "I hear congratulations are in order?"

Sideswipe immediately turns a glare on Sunstreaker. "What?" Sunny says, raising his hands placatingly, palms out. "Was it supposed to be a secret or something?"

"No," Ari says, "but we would have liked to tell people ourselves." She sighs deeply. "Who all knows?"

"Hey, all I did was tell Bumblebee."

"Yes," Ironhide says sardonically, "but then Bumblebee let it slip to Skids and Mudflap."

Sideswipe groans, thumping his forehead lightly on Ari shoulder. "Primus, that means _everyone_ knows. Those two don't know how to keep their traps shut." He thumps his head again and then just lets it rest there on the end of her shoulder. Ari reaches back, carding her fingers through his hair, scratching lightly along his scalp with her nails, and he adjusts so he can wrap his arms around her waist from behind without dislodging her hand.

Ironhide's eyes shine with amusement but he doesn't comment. Instead he says, "It's not everyone, youngling. Just the Autobots. Most of us are still a little...wary from Lando's betrayal."

Ari nods in understanding, leaning her head against Sideswipe's. The odds are in their favor that no one else is a traitor, but they all thought they could trust Lando. Their trust, their faith in these humans they call friends, is shaken. It will take some time to properly rebuild, and a lot of that will be expedited once the rest of the soldiers are cleared by S.H.I.E.L.D., who are also going to be doing extra-thorough background checks on all future recruits so that something like this never happens again.

"So Rob doesn't know?" Ari asks. "And neither do my parents?"

"No, none of our human allies know," Ironhide confirms. "Not even Agents Barton and Romanoff."

Ari snorts. "Yeah, that's probably not true. If Skids and Mudflap know, then Clint and Natasha definitely know. Different species or no, they're spies and the twins aren't exactly subtle. Clint and Nat know we're engaged, there's not a doubt in my mind."

Sideswipe lifts his head so he can look down at her, slight worry in his eyes. "Do you think that also means they know that you proposed instead of me?"

Ari chuckles. "What, you're not seriously worried Nat is going to do something to you, are you?"

"Yes, I am!" he says in all seriousness. "She could probably paint me neon green while I'm in recharge and no one would know it until morning. Slag, there wouldn't even be any evidence that she's the one who did it. It'll just happen one night when I'm least expecting it."

Ari smiles, trying so hard not to laugh outright, and turns in his arms so she can frame his face with her hands. "Nat isn't going to do anything to you, Sideswipe." She pushes herself up to her toes so she can kiss the furrow in his brow. "I promise I will call her off if she's really that mad about it. I don't think she will be though."

"And how do you know?"

"Because," Ari smirks, "she's been waiting for this to happen for a while now." Before he can respond she steps out of his arms and pulls him up the porch towards the front door. "But whatever happens, there's no use worrying about it now. Right now, I'm starving."

Sideswipe sighs but follows, looking over his shoulder at Sunstreaker and Ironhide. "You guys coming or staying out here?"

"Is that a serious question?" Ironhide says, a rare grin breaking out across his face. "I wouldn't miss the look on Will's face when he finds out for a new blaster cannon."

"You got that right," Sunny agrees, him and Ironhide preceding Ari and Sideswipe into the house. "Come on, let's go. I've gotta see this."

Ari rolls her eyes but follows them inside anyway, Sideswipe close behind her. Just like Sideswipe guessed, Will and Sarah are both already up, Sarah at the kitchen counter making breakfast and Will sitting on a stool at the island, reading the newspaper.

The four of them exchange glances and by unspoken agreement they decide to wait and see who notices first.

"Where's Annie?" Ari asks as casually as she can. Maybe she should ask Natasha for spy lessons as well. Though it's not like she has much of a need for skills in espionage but still, you never know when something like that could come in handy.

"She was still asleep when I went to check on her," Sarah says, moving the frying pan of eggs and bacon to the backburner on the stove. "I figured I'd just let her sleep for a little while longer. Give us some peace and quiet, until breakfast was ready at least. Which it is now."

"I can go get her," Will says, jumping up eagerly from his stool to head towards the stairs. Ari's heart aches for him a little. He gets to spend so much time with her since she goes with him to the base most of the time but he gets so little time with his actual daughter.

Ari shakes those thoughts from her head before they can go any further. It was Will's decision to do this, to be a part of N.E.S.T., even before he decided to adopt her. He may regret a lot of things, but N.E.S.T. is just as important to him as it is to her. And it's not like he's overseas, like he was before an alien landed in the middle of his base.

Sarah busies herself portioning out the food between the three of them and Ari moves to the fridge, getting out the carton of milk.

It's when she's reaching up to the cupboard for a glass with her left hand that she hears Sarah's squeak of surprise.

"What is that?" Sarah asks, practically a demand.

It takes all of Ari's self-control not to grin like a fool as she turns to face her mom. "What's what?"

Sarah snatches up her left hand, dragging her closer. "This, this, what is this?" She looks at the ring and then back up at Ari, head going up and down like a bobble head. "Is this what I think it is?"

Ari's self-control on her mouth slips, her lips curling up at the ends. "Depends on what you think it is."

Sarah huffs, shooting Ari a glare without letting go of her hand. "Don't play coy with me, young lady. You know exactly what I'm talking about so answer the question."

Ari's eyes drift over to Sideswipe sitting at the island wearing her favorite crooked smile. She loses her self-control entirely at that, her own grin fighting onto her face. "Yeah. Yeah, it is, we are."

Sarah squeals in delight, the high-pitched sound practically a screech, and she launches into Ari with a bone-crushing hug, jumping up and down excitedly. Ari laughs, succumbing to her mom's attentions as she suddenly lets go and takes up her left hand again, gazing at the ring.

"Oh, it's so beautiful," Sarah gushes. "Tell me absolutely everything."

"Everything about what?" Will asks, entering the kitchen with Annabelle sitting on his hip. Annabelle is still really groggy, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her little fists.

"Will, Will, look at this!" Sarah says, dragging Ari by the hand so she can show Will the ring. "She's engaged! Her and Sideswipe are engaged!"

Will's brow arches towards his hairline and he sets Annabelle down in her highchair before coming over to look at Ari's ring. "Seriously? That's fantastic! But Sideswipe," he looks over at Sides in confusion, "what happened to the plan?"

Sideswipe shrugs helplessly. "Ari disrupted the plan. She's the one who proposed to me."

Will barks out a laugh. "Of course she did."

"Wait, you knew this was coming?" Ironhide asks in confusion.

"Well, yeah. Sideswipe asked me, Rob, and Clint about human customs involving marriage. I'm the one who told him of a good place to get a ring."

"Well, slag," Ironhide sighs. "I was hoping to see you glitching when you found out."

"Ironhide, what have I told you?" Sarah levels a stern gaze at him. "No swearing in front of Annie."

Ironhide shrinks a little even though Sarah is easily half the size of his holoform. "Sorry," he grumbles. "Slip of the tongue."

"Well, you best remember to keep that tongue in check."

Everyone feels small after a chastisement from Sarah, especially if it's accompanied with a threat of no dessert. Ironhide loves her blueberry pie.

Will laughs, slinging an arm around Ari and pulling her into a hug. "Congratulations, kiddo. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," Ari says, wrapping her arms tight around his chest. "You'll walk me down the aisle and give me away, right?"

He kisses her forehead. "Course I will, kiddo. It would be an honor."

She struggles to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat. Ron never would have said that. He would have flat-out refused if she had gotten married before.

"Thanks," she whispers, pulling back with a smile only to be pulled into another pair of arms from behind. Her smile widens as she places her hands on Sideswipe's forearms, leaning back into his embrace.

"So, you don't mind that I'm taking your little girl?" Sideswipe teases.

"Hey!" Ari protests. "Not a little girl here."

"Compared to me you are, in any of my forms."

She narrows her eyes at him dangerously, a move she's learned from watching Natasha grill recruits. "You did not just call me short."

Sideswipe audibly gulps. "Uh, no, of course not. Um," he hunches his shoulders a little, cringing, "I love you?"

Ari twists her head around so she can kiss him soundly on the cheek. "Much better."

Will laughs. "Nice save, hotshot. But no, I don't think I have to worry about Ari leaving the nest. I know she can take care of herself and from the looks of it, she already has you whipped."

Sideswipe opens his mouth to retort but when Sunstreaker looks at him, arching one brow and probably saying something through their bond, Sideswipe promptly shuts it right back up.

Ari grins. Yeah, Sideswipe is whipped. They all know it.

But it's kind of ditto for her so that's okay.

"Anyway, what's with all this talk of leaving?" Ari asks. "It's not like we're actually going anywhere. I'm not moving away or anything and there isn't exactly a house out there big enough for Sideswipe's bipedal form. Plus, there's no way we're leaving N.E.S.T."

At least, not until this war is over, but it's hard to imagine a world without the Decepticons in it. What would they even do? Ari will be Autobot Ambassador, of course, but what would the Autobots do? Will a life of peace be possible for them, or have they fought for so long, so hard, that peace will never be truly peaceful to them?

They'll just have to cross that bridge when they come to it. But the thought of settling down somewhere with Sideswipe, it does have its appeal.

Ironhide suddenly looks towards the kitchen window, brow furrowing in confusion. "Optimus is pulling up to the house." He then blinks his holoform off, probably so he can transform into his bipedal mode outside.

"That's odd," Sunstreaker says and then his holoform blinks off as well.

Sideswipe groans in dismay, his head dropping to Ari's shoulder again. "Clint and Natasha just got out of his cab."

"Told you they'd find out," Ari chuckles. "Time to face the music then?"

"Yeah," Sideswipe sighs. "Let's get this over with."

Sideswipe blinks out, Ari's waist and back feeling suddenly cold without him there, but she doesn't move yet, just looks over at Will, both their eyes twinkling with mirth. "Do you think she'll really do something horrible to him?" Will asks.

"Not sure," Ari answers truthfully. "I could just as easily see her messing with him, making him always on edge, just to ultimately do nothing at all."

"Yeah, you may be right."

"Who's going to do something horrible to Sideswipe?" Sarah asks, moving to the fridge and looking over the contents.

"Agent Natasha Romanoff of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Ari explains. "She helped Sideswipe plan a proposal but now they won't get to do it. _And_ she apparently threatened him if he messed it up."

Sarah snickers. "Now that is a woman I want to meet, if Sideswipe is taking her threats seriously. Go talk to them, find out what's up, and then invite them to breakfast while I make some more food. I'm thinking pancakes."

"Sounds good."

Ari and Will head outside and descend the porch steps just as Optimus transforms into his bipedal mode to stand next to Ironhide, Sides, and Sunny. Clint and Natasha stand at their feet, Natasha glaring up at Sideswipe with a dark look that instantly has him cowering behind his brother.

"Hey, guys," Will says, looking between their guests like he can't decide if he should be worried or amused. "What brings you out here? We're heading back to base tomorrow."

"Well, for one, I wanted to deliver this to Ari," Optimus says, taking something out of a compartment on his arm and then kneeling down, holding out his hand.

Ari steps forward, picking up a small thin chain with a blue jewel dangling from one of the links. "More jewelry? What's this for?"

"It is from Ratchet, to be worn around your ankle. The jewel contains a tracking device that can be activated by both us at N.E.S.T. and those at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"But I already have the pendant," Ari says, touching the Autobot pendant hanging around her neck. Ratchet gave her a new one the same day she...returned. She also got her bracelets back. "It has a tracker in it."

"Yes, but it is a tracker that our enemies know about and know to disarm if you are taken. This one will be kept secret. If anyone asks you about the anklet, simply say it was a gift from Sideswipe or your parents. Do not tell anyone of its true purpose." His optics lower sullenly. "It is my deepest regret that it took us so long to find you, and in the end we really were not able to find you ourselves at all. You had to be the one to tell us where you were. Hopefully this way, if you are ever taken again, we will have a better chance of rescuing you more swiftly."

Ari hates it that everyone seems to be blaming themselves for her being taken. It wasn't their fault, not Sideswipe's, not Optimus's, not anyone's. The only ones to blame are Lando, Anti-Alien, the Decepticons, but everyone around her seems to be so fragging stubborn about it.

She bends down, fastening the anklet around her right ankle.

If this will give them some peace of mind, she'll gladly wear it.

"Thanks Optimus," she says as she stands upright again. "Hopefully it won't ever be needed, but thanks all the same.

Optimus nods and stands as well. "You are welcome, Ari. Now, as for the other reason why we came, I wanted to tell you and Sideswipe congratulations on behalf of all of the Autobots." He chuckles to himself. "They all wanted to come to tell you themselves but I had to put my foot down at that."

Natasha's eyes dart back over to Sideswipe like a viper. "Yes, congratulations."

She says it with seemingly such sincerity but her eyes tell a different story. They've turned a dark, stormy green, like the sky before a tornado hits.

"It's not my fault, Natasha, I swear," Sideswipe says, optics glancing over at Ari pleadingly. "I was gonna continue with the plan, I really was, but things just turned out…different."

"And what, exactly, did happen?" Natasha demands, hands on her hips. Sideswipe could crush her with one of his wheeled feet but she isn't intimidated by his size in the slightest. From the way she carries herself, full of confidence and power, Ari wouldn't be surprised if Natasha were to take on any Cybertronian and win.

"Well, I didn't get a chance to actually propose." Sideswipe scratches the back of his head. "She proposed to me."

Natasha lets out a defeated sigh and Clint lets out an enthusiastic whoop.

"Yes!" Clint exclaims, pumping his fist in the air and then holding it out to Natasha, palm up. "Cough it up, Tasha, I was right."

"Yeah, yeah," Natasha says, pulling out a twenty dollar bill from her back pocket and handing it over. "Don't be getting a big head there, Hawkaft."

Ari blinks, taking a few seconds to realize what's going on. "Wait, you made bets on us?"

"Yep," Clint says cheerily, pocketing his winnings. "We betted on who would propose first. Nat picked Sideswipe and I picked you. Thanks a lot, kid."

Ari and Sideswipe exchange mildly shocked looks except, really, they shouldn't be surprised at all that the two of them saw this coming enough to bet on it. They've been pushing the two of them towards it for a while now. "I don't know if I should feel insulted or just laugh," she finally admits.

"Just laugh, _kotyonok_ , it's easier that way." Natasha looks back up at Sideswipe with less of a glare now. "So how did the proposal go?"

Sunstreaker snorts. "These two were fighting, on the verge of breaking up because of this stupid aft brother of mine from the sound of things, and then Ari just popped the question."

"Let me guess, the usual male ego, 'I'm protecting you by leaving you' slag."

"Basically, yeah."

Natasha scoffs. "Men. The same no matter what species, apparently."

"Hey!" Clint says indigently. "We're not all bad, thank you very much."

"I suppose you're right. You did get me to marry your stupid aft and I'm a fantastic judge of character. It's necessary for the job."

"Exactly. And, hey, at least their proposal was still better than what I pulled. I asked you in the middle of a firefight. Thought you were going to shoot me in the aft."

"You had completely horrible timing, Clint. We were in Budapest, completely pinned down, you were down to just two arrows, and then you asked me to marry you. I almost missed my shot at the guy who was about to shoot you in the head."

Ari is about to say something about their use of Cybertronian curse words when the rest of their words truly register. "Wait, you two are _married_?"

Clint and Natasha stare at her blankly and say together, "Of course we are."

Will shakes his head in disbelief. "I wasn't even sure you two were together."

"It's not something we exactly advertise," Clint says, drifting closer to Natasha's side, the back of his hand brushing against hers. Ari noticed they do that a lot, stick close together, never very far apart, or at least staying within eyeshot of each other. That's why she knew they were at least dating but she never suspected this. It's not like they're big on P.D.A. or anything. "Fraternization isn't exactly sanctioned in S.H.I.E.L.D., though it's not like anyone follows that rule very much anyway, but the two of us have a lot of enemies. Individually. Combined and, well, let's just say that letting anyone know we're married who we don't absolutely trust would basically guarantee the wrong people finding out eventually."

"But you're letting us know," Ari says quietly. They mentioned them being married as if they were talking about a commonly known fact. They could have been talking about the weather or how much Clint loves his bow. They didn't even hesitate. "Does that mean you trust us?"

Natasha smiles fondly. "Of course we do, _kotyonok_. If we didn't, we never would have even mentioned it. But," she looks at them each pointedly in turn, eyes narrowing, "you are not to mention this to anyone else. Outside of us here, only Coulson and Fury know, and it's going to stay that way. Are we clear?"

"Crystal. Just so long as you keep our secret." Ari looks up at Sideswipe and he nods. "We'd like to keep our engagement and eventual marriage quiet. I can't even imagine what people would do if they found out, whether it be Decepticons or humans. People at N.E.S.T. will know because it'll be kind of unavoidable there, but don't tell anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. except for maybe Coulson and Fury. I trust them, but no one else."

"You got it, kid," Clint says. "Your secret is safe with us."

"Hey!" Sarah yells, her head sticking out of the front door. "You guys coming in for breakfast or what?"

Clint's eyes light up with excitement and he jogs towards the house. "Breakfast sounds wonderful." He holds out his hand and Sarah steps further out of the house so she can shake it. "Clint Barton, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you. Especially if you're as good a cook as Will and Ari keep telling me."

Sarah laughs, flattered by his Midwestern charm. "I'm Sarah Lennox. And trust me when I say that my cooking is so much better than my husband and daughter have described."

"Oh, really?" Clint asks, intrigued, and the two of them head into the house, Natasha close behind.

Ari stares after them a bit bewildered. "That friendship is either going to go really good or really bad for us."

"I don't think this is an either/or kind of situation," Will says a bit worriedly. "I think we're all doomed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, so much fun, from Will and Sarah finding out to Clint and Nat and just everything. And you finally have some solid Clint/Nat. In my mind, they wouldn't be anything more than partners while out in public. They would only show affection for each other around those they trust.
> 
> Next chapter we'll be back at the base, some more people will be finding out about the engagement, and we'll have the return of some beloved OCs of mine.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	66. Mending Fences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of multitasking right now so just go onward and enjoy!

When they return to base on Sunday Ari feels a lot more calmed. She got a decent amount of sleep this past weekend, not completely nightmare-free but what nightmares she had weren't in full technicolor like that first night had been. These were more like just snippets of fear she can barely remember when she wakes up. But the fear is real and gripping and it would take her a while to fall back asleep. Despite that she still got quite a few solid hours under her belt so she calls it a pretty good step in the right direction. And she plans on making a few more in some other areas.

Natasha's and Clint's covers are pretty much blown at base since they geared up as Black Widow and Hawkeye in order to save her from Anti-Alien. That combined with the fact that the most immediate threat, Lando, has been dealt with, it means Ari is allowed to come clean with what's been going on.

She starts with Evie and John. She's been lying to them for over a month, trying to keep her distance because she didn't know, couldn't know, if either of them was the traitor. When she sits down with them in the rec room and tells them everything she expects anger, hurt, betrayal, any number of things that could mean that their friendship has been ruined for good.

What she gets is understanding. Evie rolls her eyes, leaning back into the cushions of the couch she sits on with her brother, perpendicular to Ari's armchair. " _That's_ what's got you worried?" she asks, eyes moving pointedly from Ari's tense shoulders to her hands wringing together in her lap. "Seriously, Ari, it's okay."

"You're not…mad?" Ari asks uncertainly.

John shakes his head. "Nah. If anything, we're relieved. The way you were avoiding us, we thought you didn't like us anymore."

Ari's brow furrows in pain. "Guys, I'm so sorry. I would have told you if I could but-"

"No, no, we know," Evie says. "You couldn't know for sure if we were traitors or not."

"I mean, we told you our parents were pro Anti-Alien," John continues, their voices running together seamlessly in a way only twins can. "We were probably the most likely suspects, right?"

Ari nods tentatively. "Yeah. Clint and Natasha definitely didn't like it."

"We get that," Evie says. "Anti-Alien is twisted and manipulative and, really, you don't know us that well. Pit, you haven't known us that long. With a background like ours, we were kind of already expecting there to be distrust, so don't worry about it, okay?"

"Let's just make it a clean slate," John says, holding out his hand. "Hi, I'm John," he jerks his other thumb at his sister, "and that's my dork of a twin, Evie."

Ari laughs wetly, eyes blurring up a little as she shakes his hand. "Thanks guys. This is better than I deserve."

"Nonsense," Evie scoffs, getting up to sit on the arm of Ari's chair and wrapping her in a hug. "It's just what you deserve. Besides, you've been through enough already."

Ari grimaces, really hoping they're not going to ask what happened during her kidnapping. John seems to catch her look because his mouth curls into a mischievous grin as he asks, "Now, do you know what we're really ticked off about?"

Ari's shoulders sag all the way in relief at his question, his tone of voice telling her he's just joking around. The worst of it is behind her and they're not going to push. Evie gives her one last squeeze and then returns to her seat, crossing her arms in front of her chest and pouting dramatically. "Oh, yes," Evie agrees, "we are very disappointed in you, Ari."

"There's been two Avengers on this base the entire time and you didn't even tell us?"

Ari snorts. "You should be more disappointed in yourselves for not recognizing them from the news coverage. Some fans you are."

"But they were the ones least caught on camera!" John says in defense. "Especially Hawkeye. None of the cameras ever even caught his face."

"And the only thing ever really caught on camera of the Black Widow was her red hair," Evie says. "She was battling right next to Captain America a lot of the fight and no one caught her face."

"That's probably a good thing," Ari muses. "They both do a lot of espionage work, going undercover, sneaking into places, stuff like that. It's better if no one knows what they look like."

She leaves out the assassination part of their jobs, because that doesn't really need to be said.

"But you know them!" John says, leaning forward in his seat. "You knew them from before, right? You know actual, honest to Primus superheroes and you didn't think to tell us?"

"Actually, I'm the only one she knew before Anti-Alien blew up the plane," a voice says, making the three of them jump before turning to see Natasha climbing up the scaffold steps, Clint close behind. They sit on one of the other nearby couches, Clint perched on the back with his feet on the cushions. "She didn't meet Clint until he came here."

Evie and John stare, gobsmacked, unsure what to say, which Ari finds kind of hilarious. Everyone on base is still kind of reeling from the fact that they've apparently made friends with two members of the Avengers without even knowing it. There's even been a few shy inquiries for autographs.

"Come on, guys," Ari says, rolling her eyes. "Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff aren't that different from William Brandt and Natalie Rushman. You were friends with them before you found out who they really are. Knowing the truth shouldn't really change anything except what you call them."

"And it definitely doesn't change the fact that I can cream you in Call of Duty," Clint says with a challenging smirk.

Evie and John look at each other and then turn on Clint with twin devilish grins. "I don't think so," John says, getting up to grab some controllers and handing one to his sister. "Let's do this, Evie. You and me against him."

Evie arches an eyebrow at him. "I don't know. The last time we teamed up against someone you set it for free-for-all and then shot at _me_ more times than not."

The twins begin to bicker as they get the game set up, Clint egging them on, and Ari watches from her seat with a smile, happy things are back to normal now. Hopefully it can continue like this through the rest of training and whatever comes next. But for right now, a little normalcy would be good.

"There's someone who wants to talk to you," Natasha says, suddenly right next to her, but she's able to suppress her jump of surprise. Ari hadn't even realized she approached. Natasha jerks her thumb to the side and Ari follows her finger to the doorway of the Rec Room where Trent stands, looking up at them uncertainly.

Ari's stomach twists. "I haven't seen him since the safe room."

He looks good, completely brand new, after that hit in the head he took from Lando. It must not have been too bad then. She knew he was okay, that he didn't end up like Ferrel after she was knocked out with the drugs, but she hasn't seen hide nor hair of him since she got back.

There's something about him now that looks different, though. He's not his same confident self, full of ego and narcissism. He's subdued, calm in a way that he wasn't before, and there's no leer as he looks at her. There's a frown instead of a smirk and his eyes are cloudy with an emotion she almost doesn't recognize from him.

Guilt.

She remembers their conversation in the safe room, before things went south. How it honestly sounded like Trent is changing for the better. A crazy concept, Ari's known him to be an annoying idiot all her life, but she doesn't see that same guy right now. If his change of heart is real, it'll take some getting used to. But she looks forward to seeing what he becomes.

"Are you going to talk to him?" Natasha asks, her face carefully blank. "I know you two have a rocky relationship."

Ari sighs. "For a military base there sure are a lot of gossips."

"It's a bunch of people who have to spend an extremely large amount of time together. What else are they going to do on their down time?"

"Not gossip like a bunch of old ladies." Ari takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "But yeah, I'll talk to him...looks like he really needs to."

And, for once, it looks like there won't be any lasciviousness in it.

She gets up and locks eyes with Sideswipe, sitting on one of the Cybertronian-sized benches across the room with Sunstreaker, far enough away to give her the chance to talk to Evie and John without eavesdropping but close enough to keep an eye on her. They've been sticking together a lot lately, never losing sight of one another. She'd even probably go on patrols with him if Optimus didn't temporarily take Sideswipe off the roster.

They don't separate. Period. Ari doesn't know if this is only temporary paranoia or if things will be like this from now on, but it doesn't matter to either of them right now.

So she tilts her head towards Trent and Sideswipe looks over to where Trent is still standing in the doorway. Sideswipe grimaces, understanding what it is Trent wants and maybe even a little of what it is Trent wants to talk about, but he nods anyway, flitting his optics over to a corner of the room where there's a collection of chairs and couches set up out of the way so people can enjoy a little bit of quiet and privacy for reading. It's empty right now so she nods in approval and descends the scaffold stairs, approaching Trent with a little trepidation.

A part of her is scared that his little change of heart won't last. But there's only one way to find out.

"Hey, Trent," Ari says tentatively, wrapping her arms around her waist. She's not sure what this is about, if it'll be good or bad, if it'll be more of Trent's obnoxiousness or not, but she forces herself to stand still and listen. "What's up? You doing okay?"

"Yeah," he says with a jerky nod. "Yeah, I'm good. Is there, um...can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go over here." She leads him over to the couches in the corner, feeling dread sizzle in the pit of her stomach for some reason. This version of Trent is so foreign to her, she's not sure how to deal with him. She sits on one couch, Trent on another, with a wooden coffee table between them. Trent is sitting on the edge of the couch cushions, wiping his palms on his cargo pants nervously, like they're sweaty.

Holy, Primus, what is going through that thick head of his to make him like this?

After several minutes of awkward silence Ari decides to prompt him, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Right, um, yeah, I wanted to, um, apologize," he stutters, and Ari's brows shoot to her hairline. Trent DeMarco doesn't stutter, ever. He's never found it hard to say what he wants. Though it's not exactly that often Trent DeMarco actually apologizes for anything, either. She's only ever heard him say the words "I'm sorry" on one occasion, but she doesn't understand why he's trying to apologize now.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Trent. I'm pretty sure we got through all of that in the safe room."

"No, that's just it, the safe room," he sighs, shaking his head in frustration, "you risked yourself because of me. Got kidnapped because of me, after all the slag I pulled in the past."

"Trent, I told you apology accepted, and if you really mean it, then there's nothing else to say about it."

Trent's jaw clenches, his entire body tensing in agitation. "But that doesn't mean you should have given yourself up because of me! You should have just let him shoot me, then you could have taken him down, I know you could have. Instead, you let him take you."

"Nope, no way. There was no way I was going to let you die, too, because of me."

"But you got tortured for over two days because of me!" he snaps.

Ari flinches like she was slapped in the face. What happened when she was taken is still a sore subject to her, not something she likes to talk about. She's had to talk about it so much already, have every little detail analyzed. Now, most people try to avoid mentioning it entirely.

Trent's anger deflates. "I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," she says softly, knowing he really didn't mean anything by it. "But I wouldn't change anything, Trent. Even if I knew then what was to come after, I still would have chosen to save you."

He huffs out a laugh but there's little humor in it. "You're always so fragging nice to everyone, Ari."

The corner of her mouth tilts up. "I seem to remember kneeing you in the groin once. That wasn't exactly very nice."

He laughs for real this time. "Yeah, but I deserved it."

"That you did." She tries to keep the surprise out of her voice. If Trent recognizes that what he did before was wrong, there may be hope for him yet. "But what you didn't deserve was to die, Trent. Ferrel didn't either and we both know she wasn't exactly my biggest fan."

"But you're important. You're the AllSpark."

"That doesn't mean you need to die for me. I don't want you to. I will do all that I can to keep myself safe and when that isn't enough, you just do your best. Sometimes that'll be enough. Sometimes it won't. This time it wasn't but that's okay. I still made it out alive and intact."

"What if next time you don't?" he asks, looking down at his clenched fists clutching the fabric of his pants, and Ari doesn't think he's talking about just her anymore.

It was a close call for him as well. Lando could have just as easily killed Trent instead of just knock him out.

She gets up, rounds the coffee table, and sits down on it in front of him, their knees so close they're almost bumping together. "You can't go thinking like that, Trent," she says as delicately as she can. "I know there are no guarantees that any of us will make it through this war alive, but you can't go thinking about the ifs and maybes. You'll just drive yourself crazy. Uncertainty is one of the many prices we pay, leading the lives we do, and we just have to bear it any way we can. And that goes for the failures, too. You can't beat yourself up about them, thinking about what you did wrong, what you could have changed. Just strive to do better next time. That's all you can do."

"I just…I don't know, I feel like I owe you or something," Trent says, looking up at her helplessly, "but also that nothing I do will ever be enough."

Ari shakes her head. "You owe me nothing, Trent. I'm glad you're okay and I wouldn't change a thing." She pauses thoughtfully for a second. "But there is one thing you can do for me."

"Like what?"

She smiles, the first genuine smile she's ever given him, and holds out her hand. "Be my friend?"

He chuckles softly and takes her hand. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do that."

Her smile widens as they shake on it. Never did Ari think she would ever be friends, real friends, with Trent DeMarco, the boy who has been the bane of her existence, or at least one of them, for a long time.

But now she finds that she's glad she is.

"So," he says, leaning back into the couch with a familiar smug smile. A smile like that used to mean trouble for her but she doesn't think it does anymore. "That's quite the ring you got on your finger."

Ari blinks in surprise and then looks down at her hand where she's still wearing her engagement ring. "I kind of forgot I'm wearing it, though I suppose that's a good thing since it's something I'll be wearing from now on. You're the first person to notice I have it since I got here."

John suddenly vaults over the back of Trent's couch, landing beside him with a bounce. "Notice what?"

"We miss something?" Evie asks, rounding the couch to sit on the other side of Trent.

Trent looks back and forth at the twins looking very unamused but he doesn't snap at them like he might once have. "Yeah, you numbskulls missed a lot. And you call yourselves her friends; you didn't even notice she's wearing an engagement ring."

The twins both open their mouths and then snap them shut with an audible clank of their teeth. Their heads spin in unison to look at Ari, dropping down to her hand. She holds it out to them, showing off the ring, and says playfully, "Surprise!"

"Holy Primus!" Evie squeals, launching herself onto the coffee table to sit next to Ari and snatching her hand for a closer look. "Aww, it's so beautiful! When did this happen? Why didn't you tell us?"

"It happened over the weekend," Ari says on a laugh, feeling like she's not getting her hand back anytime soon. "And not many people know about it yet. Sideswipe and I kind of decided just to wait and see who notices. It's a lot more fun that way. You should have seen Rob's reaction. I swear he just stood there staring at my hand for a solid five minutes. He didn't think Sideswipe would get up the nerve to actually ask me. Though, he's not the one who did the asking anyway."

"Wait, _you_ asked _him_?" John barks out a laugh. "Primus, that is hilarious! Where is he? He's never going to hear the end of this."

Evie grabs her brother's arm and yanks him down to the floor before he can go tease Sideswipe, without ever taking her eyes off the ring. "Oh, leave the poor mech alone, Johnny. Things haven't exactly been easy for him lately."

John's face scrunches up like he's eaten something sour. "I thought I told you never to call me that?"

"Yes, you did, but I never said I would listen. I could always call you Johnathan if you prefer. That's what Mom calls you when you're being a brat."

"No, thank you," John says vehemently, plopping himself back on the couch. "I don't need more than one crazy lady calling me that."

Evie glares at him. "I'm telling Mom you said that."

John's face morphs into genuine horror. "Don't you dare!"

Evie shoots up and takes off at a dead run, shouting over her shoulder, "Yes, I am!"

John chases after his sister and Trent watches after them, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Why are you friends with them?"

Ari chuckles. "Oh, they're not that bad. Skids and Mudflap are certainly a lot worse." Something suddenly occurs to her and she sits up straight. "Frag, I totally forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"There's someone I need to call. Talk to you later." She gets up and jogs over to Sideswipe, taking the stairs up the scaffold two at a time while she digs in her pocket for her phone.

"Hey, Ari," Sideswipe says when she sits on his shoulder, scrolling through her contacts. "Your talk with the aftpipe go okay?"

"Yeah, actually," she says, finding the number she was looking for and pressing call. "It went really well. We decided to be friends."

"You serious?" Sideswipe asks in surprise.

"Yeah, I think he's actually changed for the better now. I just hope it lasts." She puts the phone on speaker so they can both hear the dial tones ringing out.

"If you say so. Who are you calling?"

"Someone I probably should have called a while ago. I just hope she's not in class right now."

The call connects and a familiar voice says, "Hey, chica. I was hoping I'd hear from you soon."

Ari grins. "Hey, Lina. How are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old. College is boring as frag, especially since I don't have an Anti-Alien to terrorize in cyberspace anymore. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Nope. Nothing I can talk about over a phone, anyway."

"Well, that sucks. You need to come visit and tell me all the gushy details. The media is saying that they attacked you or something? They attacked a bunch of human civilians, too."

Ari's brow raises to her hairline. She hasn't heard anything about how Anti-Alien's sudden dismantling is being handled, though it hasn't exactly been high on her priority list lately. "No, I didn't know that, though I guess that's not that far from the truth."

"Seriously? Tell me more, tell me more."

"Sorry, Lina, I can't. Phil definitely wouldn't approve we do this over the phone."

"Aww, come on! Pretty please?"

Ari laughs. "I thought you were on the side of the law now. Helping The Man out, following the rules and keeping secrets."

"Doesn't mean I can't be a rebel every once in a while. But seriously, Ari, we need to get together and hang out. Sounds to me like we have a lot of catching up to do."

"You don't know the half of it. That's kind of why I'm calling. I was wondering if maybe you'd be up to visiting me for a little while in the somewhat near future?"

"Really?" Lina asks ecstatically. "Does this mean I get to see the super-secret base?"

Ari hums thoughtfully. "Maybe. I'll talk to Phil, Optimus, and my dad. See what I can do. But do you think you could come over for maybe a few days?"

"Pit, yeah, just tell me when and where and I'll jiffy right on over."

"Awesome. There's just one more thing."

"Alright, shoot."

"Will you be my maid of honor?"

There's a solid minute of silence over the line, enough to where Ari has to look down at her phone to make sure the call wasn't dropped.

"Lina, you still there?"

"Yeah...yeah...," Lina says, sounding sort of breathless. "I'm sorry, you asked me what now?"

Ari shares a smirk with Sideswipe. "I asked if you would be my maid of honor."

"Your maid of honor. Like the bridesmaid? For weddings?"

"Yes, Lina, for weddings." Ari rolls her eyes. Should she ask if Lina hit her head or something?

"Shut. Up." Lina squeals excitedly. "Sideswipe asked you to marry him? That's fantastic!"

"Everyone always assumes that. I asked him, actually. It's not such an uncommon thing, you know, the girl asking the guy."

"Oh, yeah, you go, chica. Now I'm definitely coming over there to see you. We have so much to plan! I have to get together a bachelorette party!"

"What's a bachelorette party?" Sideswipe asks.

She can practically hear Lina's eyes shine mischievously. "Sideswipe is there? Am I on speaker? A bachelorette party is-"

Ari quickly takes the phone off speaker with wide eyes, avoiding looking at Sideswipe. "It's nothing, Sides, it's nothing." She puts the phone to her ear and hisses, "That's not something that's going to happen, Lina. I don't want a bachelorette party."

"Why not? It's tradition!"

"I haven't done anything by tradition so far. Why start now?"

"We still need to, I don't know, celebrate or something. You're going to be a married woman!"

"That's really not necessary."

"Oh, yes it is. Don't worry. I'll find something you like. Have you picked a date yet?"

Ari sighs, starting to regret calling Lina a little bit now. "No, we haven't. We just know that we want to wait until training is over with."

"Well, you let me know when you pick it, and when you decide you want me to come over. We've got lots to do, Ari. Lots to do."

Oh, yeah, regretting it a bit more now. She better keep Lina away from Natasha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun, a lot of talking, but still fun and these were necessary conversations for Ari to have in order to start moving on from everything that's happened recently. But now we can start moving full speed ahead into other things, starting with the continuing of training.
> 
> You'll get your wedding soon, trust me. Just have patience.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	67. Focus on the Finish Line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure where this chapter came from. It's more of a transition chapter than anything else, I guess, but I had fun with it anyway. Especially the beginning. :3
> 
> So, go onward and enjoy!

Sideswipe and Ari wonder into the rec room, the sun not quite peeking up over the horizon yet. Ari had another nightmare, one that woke them both, and sleep just isn't an option anymore this night. Besides, even if they did try for more sleep it's not like they'd get much more of it anyway before they'd have to get up. Training is starting up again today, so they decide to just crash in front of one of the T.V.s until roll call.

But when they get there they find the room surprisingly not empty.

"So what are your opinions on the flower arrangements?" Natasha asks, her cell phone pressed to her ear as she leafs through a magazine spread out on her lap, a half-dozen others stacked on the couch next to her. "What about the ones on page twenty-three? Half-way down? Yeah, those. Think she'll like them?"

Wondering who she's talking to but unwilling to disturb the agent and her phone call, Ari and Sideswipe make a beeline to a different bench than the one Natasha's sitting above, trying to give her privacy. Ari curls closer to Sideswipe's chassis, trying to get comfortable, while Sideswipe turns on the T.V., channel surfing to find something good on to waste a little time.

"Hey, Ari?" Natasha says sternly and they both jump at the sudden closeness of her voice, turning their heads to see the agent on the scaffold behind them. They hadn't even heard her climb the scaffold stairs. "What's this I hear about you not liking pink?"

Ari opens her mouth and closes it again, baffled by the randomness of the question. "How do you even know that?"

"Your mother." Natasha holds up the cell phone in her hand, the screen indicating the line is on hold. "So, you don't like pink?"

"Uh, no, I don't." Ari rubs at her face tiredly, wishing coffee was effective on her but, sadly, her metabolism breaks it down too fast to give her even a slight buzz. She has to wake up at her mind's own pace, which is not feeling fast enough right now for this conversation. "Why are you talking to my mom about my dislike for pink?"

"We're discussing flower arrangements. So what color would you choose then, purple or blue?"

"Wait, why are you discussing flower arrangements? Flower arrangements for what?"

Natasha gives her a look like she's being dumb. "For your wedding, what else?" Ari just blinks at her and Natasha sighs. "I knew you wouldn't have thought about any of this yet. Weddings take a lot of planning, Ari. We need to get started now."

"How much planning could it possibly take?" Sideswipe asks incredulously. "It's just a ceremony and then an after party, right?"

"Oh, no," Natasha says, shaking her head emphatically. "Wedding are so much more than that. There's the flower arrangements, the venue, decorations, table arrangements, catering, DJ, cake, and so, so much more. They usually take months to plan."

Sideswipe balks. "Months? But we don't want to wait months."

"And we really don't want all that much," Ari adds. "We want something small. I mean, it's not like we can just rent a venue or anything considering the groom and a lot of people in attendance are aliens, not to mention we don't want anyone finding out about this. So we don't need the flower arrangements or a DJ or most of those other things that usually go into weddings. We just want to get married and we want our friends and families to be there when it happens."

Natasha glowers, crossing her arms in front of her chest, but there's nowhere near as much heat behind it as there could be. "Small? Really? So you're going to take away all our fun?"

"Not all of it," Ari says placatingly. "I mean, you can still plan everything, just...keep it small and simple?"

"Fine," Natasha grumbles. "Pick a date and place by the end of the week and we'll see what we can do." The agent then turns on her heel and descends the scaffold stairs, lifting the phone back to her ear to tell Sarah the bad news.

Ari sighs in relief. Definitely dodged a bullet with that one. But at least this way she doesn't have to worry about getting the wedding put together. It's in very capable hands.

She just hopes it's not too over-the-top. Clint and Natasha eloped after that mission in Budapest so Ari gets the feeling Natasha's trying to make up for her own missed chance.

"Hey, Ari?" Sideswipe says.

"Yeah?" she replies.

"I think we're probably going to need to set some boundaries for them."

Ari thinks it over for a second. "Yeah, you're probably right."

The time for training approaches quickly after that and they both head into the main hanger for roll call. Along the way, they get many congratulations and well-wishes. News of their engagement has spread like wildfire, especially since, apparently, half the people on base already knew it was going to happen and the other half aren't surprised it happened at all. It makes her wonder what she's going to do about invitations. She's tempted to invite all of N.E.S.T. but, the truth is, she doesn't really know them all, not even by name, and like she told Natasha, she wants to keep it small.

That's something to worry about later, though. Right now, she just needs to focus on finishing N.E.S.T. training.

They pick up where they left off, finishing their teamwork sessions in the training hanger. Hunter takes over Ferrel's place as team leader for the red team, ruthlessly leading his team with raw, brute strength.

He and Newton are both upset after Ferrel's death. Ari is pretty sure they both blame her.

A part of Ari agrees with them. By the time their team training is finished, the blue team is ahead by four points. Ari's team cheers around her but she just feels guilt sag on top of her shoulders.

She tries not to let it get to her as they start the last two week stretch of their training. This time, they're not just using teamwork with each other. They're using it with the Autobots as well, learning how to fight beside them, how to work with them, and most importantly, how to stay out of their way and not accidentally get squashed.

However, the training sessions don't start right away. On the first day, when they enter the training hanger, there is no battle scenario waiting for them. There's no broken buildings or cars or any kind of simulated environment.

Instead, there are old school desks arranged in rows in an otherwise empty hanger. Ironhide stands before them in his bipedal mode, hands held behind his back like a stern teacher. Welles directs the recruits to sit in the desks and then joins Ironhide at the front of the group.

"Hey, Ari, it's high school all over again," Sideswipe jokes as he rolls in last, sitting on the floor next to the desks. Ari chooses a desk on the outside row so she can sit near him, though she doesn't respond. Now isn't a time for them to be talking, and he understands that, plus the glare Ironhide shoots him reinforces the idea. No talking is one of the conditions Ironhide set for allowing Sideswipe to tag along. Sideswipe still isn't back on the patrol roster yet so he's using the free time to stay close to Ari.

PTSD is an evil glitch.

"Alright, listen up," Ironhide says once everyone is settled, Sideswipe's trap firmly shut. "This is the most important part of your training so you better listen and listen good. Welcome to Decepticon Defensive Tactics Training. Our objective today is to begin whipping you into elite N.E.S.T. combatants that actually stand a chance against the Cons because, and with all due respect, your human species is small, slow, weak, lacking bodily integrated weapons systems-"

Ari clears her throat very loudly, giving Ironhide a pointed look that gets him to snap his mouth shut before continuing. Yes, yes, humans are squishy, but they're still not exactly helpless either.

And it's not exactly polite to point out all their weaknesses. They've been over this before.

"Right," he says, a bit embarrassed, "well, all I'm saying is that you are colossally mismatched against the Decepticons, who are lean, mean combat machines. They are cold, battle tested, and masters of camouflage, ambush, and sneak attack. They do not play fair but downright dirty, using any means necessary in order to complete their objective, which is to offline us all. So, how do you defeat the Decepticons?"

Silence answers him and everyone looks around at each other awkwardly.

"The mech asked you a question, recruits," Welles says, arms folded in front of his chest. "I suggest someone pipe up and answer."

Ari leans back in her seat, choosing to stay out of this. It sounds a lot like a trick question. Amole is the one who eventually raises a tentative hand.

Ironhide nods to him. "Amole. How do you plan on defeating the Decepticons?"

"Uh, with a lot of firepower?" Amole says, though his answer sounds more like a question.

"Wrong. You do not defeat the Decepticons. 'You' will fail. Only 'we', the entire N.E.S.T. unit operating in tactical coordination, will prevail. You would do well to remember that. Now," his optics glow brighter, a hologram shooting out of them to form at his feet, a hologram of Megatron. It's smaller than the actual mech but it still sends chills down Ari's spine, making her glad she sat a few rows back from the front. "I will teach you a few things about our enemies."

They spend the entire day sitting in those desks, trying to mind meld all of the information Ironhide feeds them. They go over all of the Decepticons known to be on the planet, plus some who aren't but are likely to make it here eventually. Ironhide explains their attributes, preferred alt modes, and weapons. They go over strengths and weaknesses and every single little detail Ironhide can think of because the more knowledge they have, the more they can exploit.

They do nothing else, just straight up lecture.

The next day, however, they get a demonstration.

The hanger is still set up like a classroom, but instead of just Ironhide and Welles standing at the front, this time they're joined by Wheeljack dragging a large cart, its bulky cargo covered by a cloth, along with a N.E.S.T. unit made up of eight men and women dressed in full tactical gear, weapons and all.

"Now this is where things get interesting," Ironhide says, optics gleaming in anticipation. "We've shown you the weapons to take down a Con, but firing on an enemy is not always the best way to defeat them, especially when ammo starts running low. So with Wheeljack's help, this N.E.S.T. unit will be demonstrating a take-down using grappling hooks. Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack rubs his hands together giddily, a great big grin stretching his faceplates, and Ari's stomach plummets a little bit. If these two are happy about something, whatever's under that cloth no doubt, then there is a very high chance that it's going to explode. She eyes the cart warily, wondering what it could be. "We have a special treat for you today, chaps! It used to be that Ironhide would have to play the dummy, but now we have a dummy of our own!"

Sideswipe chokes on a cough, trying to cover his laugh, and the recruits struggle to fight off smiles.

"I am not a dummy," Ironhide grouses, walking over to the cart, "but it would be nice not to have to fall on my aft over and over again anymore."

He pulls the cloth off the cart, revealing what looks like a Cybertronian but it's...off. The metal isn't the same and it's lank, like there isn't a whole lot beneath that armor. Its optics are dimmed, offlined but not in the sense that the mech is dead, but that it never was alive to begin with.

"This is a fully functioning animatronic," Wheeljack declares proudly. "It has the strength and agility nearly equal to Ironhide here and," he lifts the robot's arm and plucks up a large tablet, "it is completely run by remote control."

After a few taps to the tablet the robot's eyes glow green and it stands at attention next to the cart. It's kind of creepy, to be honest. Its faceplates are blank and Ari can't see a spark shining behind its optics. There's no actual life in it at all, even though it's made to be very life-like.

It's almost like looking at a ghost.

"Today, you will be practicing grappling maneuvers using the dummy," Ironhide says, "but first, our N.E.S.T. team here will demonstrate."

Ari exchanges worried glances with Sideswipe and can't help but wonder aloud, "Has this thing actually been tested?"

Ironhide and Wheeljack look at each other a little sheepishly while the N.E.S.T. team falters in their steps to take positions around the animatronic.

Well, there's that answer. At least the recruits aren't the ones testing it first. She wonders if maybe she should ask if Optimus even knows what they're up to but then decides against it. Better to ask forgiveness than permission and all that. Despite its creepiness this animatronic has a lot of possibility, possibilities Ari is already thinking up.

Ironhide coughs awkwardly. "Yes, well, the animatronic is still perfectly safe so let's get to it then, shall we? Chop chop."

The soldiers continue towards the animatronic a bit more slowly this time but with gaining confidence with every step. They trust Ironhide and Wheeljack, even if Wheeljack's inventions have a tendency to explode a quarter of the time. The inventor wouldn't risk people's lives if he wasn't absolutely sure, though, so the soldiers take up their positions around the animatronic, surrounding it with their grappling guns held firmly in their hands.

"Alright, the first step is to get the Decepticon surrounded," Ironhide narrates, Wheeljack tapping a few things on his tablet that makes the animatronic move. It crouches, arms spread and shuffling on its feet like it's about to try to escape. "We're going to take this slow, but when you do this for real, you'll have to be fast because a Decepticon can just step over or on you if they want."

The soldiers raise their weapons in unison and Ari's stomach lurches a little.

"Now, the areas you'll want to aim for are the shoulders, elbows, wrists, chassis, and back. Fire your weapons, hook in good, and then you'll want to yank back as hard as you can, keep up a good, steady force."

Triggers are pulled and the grappling hooks launch, latching onto the animatronic exactly in the places Ironhide singled out. They hook on with a series of clangs and then ropes are pulled taunt.

Ari's mind flashbacks, her eyes overlaid with a dark night lit up with searchlights, the wind roaring with the swirl of helicopter rotors, and the same clangs echoing off concrete.

The animatronic struggles against the ropes and maybe it could have got away if it was just a few people but an entire team of N.E.S.T. soldiers working together keeps it well restrained.

The robot is silent, Wheeljack probably didn't see a reason to give it a vocal processor, but Ari still hears a desperate, high-pitched whirling ringing in her ears.

Something touches her thigh and she jumps, turning her head to see Sideswipe's holoform sitting on the floor next to her with worried eyes. He shifts as close to her as possible, rubbing her leg soothingly and resting his head in her lap. She cards her fingers through his hair, taking comfort in his closeness and ignoring the fact that this is a breach in Ironhide's rules.

"Ari?" Evie whispers and Ari reluctantly lifts her head to see Evie and John watching her carefully, the demonstration still going on out of the corner of her eye. "You alright?"

"Yes, I'm alright," Ari answers quietly, voice a little shaken. "It's just…Sector Seven, the predecessor to N.E.S.T. I guess you could say…I had to watch them do that to Sideswipe once. They took him down like a dog, then locked him up and tortured him."

"Ari, if you don't want to do this," John begins but Ari shakes her head.

"No, it's okay. I'm okay. I just didn't expect to be affected like that." She passes her hand through Sideswipe's hair again. "I'll stay."

With only slight reluctance, she turns back to the soldiers, watching as they bring the animatronic to its knees. This time, with Sideswipe so close, it's easier to keep her head out of the past.

She needs to see this, needs to see the training to the end.

Once the demonstration is finished, Welles orders the recruits to suit up in tactical gear, breaks them up into units, and then sets them loose on the animatronic, the units taking turns practicing the take-down.

It feels weird, holding the grappling gun in her hands, going through the motions herself, but she does it because she has to learn. She needs to learn to do this, to defend herself.

Because the odds of her actually needing to do this are extremely high.

Which is why when they're finished with the exercise Ari looks up at Ironhide and asks, "What if we get cornered? One person against a Decepticon, no backup that'll get there in time. What do we do then?"

Ironhide grimaces and she can already see the automatic answer. There is nothing they can do. One human against a Decepticon? There is no match. He was just saying it the other day, one person alone can't do it. It has to be them as a team.

But Ari ends up on her own, a lot. She may not always have help. It's another scenario that she could very easily end up in, again.

Ironhide sighs but nods. "Very well. Everyone gather round." The recruits form ranks in front of him, standing at attention. "If you are cornered by a Decepticon, a gun will not help you. You will run out of bullets before you take a 'Con solo, so what you'll have to do is get in up close and personal. With a knife."

The recruits mutter to each other worriedly but Ari actually smirks. Yeah, that's something she can do.

"There are a few points of vulnerability that will be apparent on every Cybertronian form," Wheeljack continues, using the animatronic as an example. "As you can see, our armor does not completely cover our forms, leaving a few gaps that exposes wires and tubes. They can be found at the inner elbows, at the backs of the knees, the wrists, finger joints, and the neck. Now, do you see this tube here?" He points to a white tube that is just barely visible through a gap at the neck of the animatronic. "This tube runs through each of those points I mentioned. It's the main energon artery that runs through our entire bodies, connected directly to the spark chamber. Sever it in any place and it will cause a massive energon leak that will cause its corresponding body part to cease functioning. Cut enough of them, and the 'Con will offline."

"So, anyone want to take a crack at it?" Ironhide asks with a grin.

Ari laughs, taking off her helmet and tossing it on a desk. "I'm in." She takes her tactical vest off next, placing it on the desk with her helmet so that her arms are free and she has complete movement. It's not like the extra protection would do her much good one on one against a Decepticon anyway. Her greatest advantage will be speed. And her knives. She presses the jewel on each of her bracelets and they transform, the knives extending past her clenched fists. "Ready when you are."

"This thing better not hurt her, 'Jack," Sideswipe warns as everyone backs away from Ari and the robot. "If it does, I'm gonna yank you around by your beard."

"Duly noted," Wheeljack replies brightly, bringing the animatronic fully online. "Alright, Ari, are you ready?"

Ari smirks, standing off against the robot. "Bring it."

The animatronic steps forward, leaning down to grab her, but Ari ducks under its arm and out of the way. It's quick to spin around and go for her again, though, faster than she was anticipating, and she has to tuck herself into a roll in order to doge, its fingers swiping against her back. She continues with the roll, using it to get back on her feet again just in time to sidestep the bot's foot stomping down towards her.

"You trying to squish me, Wheeljack?" Ari yells, never taking her eyes off her opponent.

"Just trying to keep things authentic!" he yells back.

He sounds way too happy trying to kill her but that's perhaps a good thing.

The robot comes at her again, this time with a kick, and Ari dives between its legs, spinning around in time to jab one of her knives into the gap behind its left knee. She feels the blade hit the tube and yanks, severing it and causing gallons of liquid to begin spilling forth, the strong smell of gasoline filling the air. The bot fall's to one knee and she goes for the neck, but it gets back up on its one good leg too fast and she misses. But it is off-balanced now, dragging its damaged leg while grabbing for her again.

Ari ducks, crouching low and thrusting her arm up high in order to sever the tube in its left arm. It sways to the side, stumbles, and Ari has to scramble quickly in order not to get crushed under the mass of metal falling to the floor with a crunch. She gets back on her feet and to the animatronic's head before it can get back up. With one final thrust and jerk of her knife, she tears out the tube in its throat. It struggles for a few more seconds, getting more and more sluggish as each one passes, and then its optics fade.

No one moves, the only sound Ari's heavy breathing. And then there's Wheeljack's cackling laughter.

"Well, bloody Pit, Ari," he says with a wide grin. "Looks like I need a tougher animatronic."

Ari returns his smile. "That you do. I'd love to go again, and don't go so easy on me next time. The Decepticons sure won't."

"Trust me, next time, I won't either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this basically wraps up training. It's the last I'm going to do of it. Next chapter will be the recruit graduation ceremony and then it's full speed to the wedding!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	68. From Recruit to Soldier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. It was hard to write for some reason, I guess because it's more of a transition chapter than anything else. It wraps up loose ends with Anti-Alien, recruit training, and the investigation our spies are conducting, all helping to lead up to the wedding. Hopefully I did a good enough job though.
> 
> And FYI, I've never attended a military graduation and most of this was basically written on the seat of my pants.
> 
> Okay, go onward and enjoy!

The following weeks go by in a blur.

Most of the time Ari is okay. She can keep herself in the present moment without any reminders of what she went through, without having to relive any of it. During those times, she feels almost normal. But then she'll have a nightmare or someone will ask a question and the memories will shake her again.

She's not alone, though. She's never alone. Sideswipe is always right there with her, helping her remember that what happened is firmly in the past, is going to stay there, and he helps her pack the memories back into a box.

What shakes her the most is the press conference.

Anti-Alien had become a powerful entity during its short life, an organization that became noticed by many people. For it to suddenly disappear, its leader dead, is suspicious and the media runs with it like a horse chomping on the bit.

Assassination and conspiracy are some of their favorite words.

So Ari meets the media once again, traveling to L.A. for another press conference in order to set things straight. Sideswipe tries to talk her out of it but she insists. No one gets to use words like that in regards to her family. No one. And she will talk about what happened to her, go through that pain again, in order to protect them if she has to.

It's a fairly small event since none of the Autobots make an appearance this time. Ari is nervous since she hasn't been in front of cameras since the fiasco at her school, but she sucks it up and gives them the bended truth Agent Coulson approves of.

It's decided, and Ari agrees, that the public shouldn't know about the Decepticons' involvement. It would be too easy for the public to misunderstand, to speculate that Anti-Alien was willingly working for the Decepticons when, as far as they can tell, Anti-Alien had no idea they were being duped. It would just cause more anger against all Cybertronians, so they decide that part is best kept under wraps.

What Ari does tell the world is that Anti-Alien became aggressive and ultimately kidnapped her. She was held at their base in Reno, Nevada for roughly three days undergoing interrogations because they wanted information on the Autobots, information that could cripple them and make them leave the planet. However, Ari broke out of where she was being held, found a phone to call for help, and N.E.S.T. came and raided the building. Ari was rescued and Allen Maxwell died in the crossfire trying to escape.

She also says that the whole thing was able to happen because one of their own betrayed them, Lando. Natasha tells her to show great emotion during that part, but it isn't hard for her to get choked up about it.

Her story is received with mostly a positive response, people condemning Anti-Alien for resorting so low and leading to so many deaths. The organization, if there was anyone trying to keep it alive, is sure to fizzle out now.

Ari breathes easier, and vows to herself never to talk about those three days ever again. Instead, she focuses on her present, on those around her, and on the future.

The moment Will hands her a dark blue military dress uniform emblazoned with the N.E.S.T. insignia to wear for the recruit graduation ceremony, her heart swells in her chest. She's never been very proud of herself for anything, but this, _this_ is something she accomplished herself. She made it through the training and came out on the other side a soldier.

The ceremony is small since family members can't come to the N.E.S.T. base, but they make the most of it, a lot of the N.E.S.T. soldiers who have made friends with the new recruits attending to watch as they officially become soldiers themselves. The ceremony is held outside, the air brisk but not too cold, a beautiful day to add on to the recruits' excitement.

This is a moment they will remember for the rest of their lives, the moment they all go from being just people to being a part of a team, to being a part of something that truly matters and will help change the world.

Will help protect the world, and everyone in it.

They toss their hats high into the air and Ari laughs giddily, everyone around her laughing and cheering as well, and she can't believe she made it to this moment. Through everything, she's made it, she's a part of all of this now and not just some girl who needs protecting.

She can protect herself, and those she cares for. She can feel the strength inside her chest and feels like she can take on a hundred Megatrons. Nothing can stand in her way, not even herself.

After collecting her hat, she notices that the crowd is starting to get kind of suffocating, all of the newly minted soldiers bunching together in excitement as those who watched the ceremony join them. It squeezes around her, her shoulders becoming stiff with tension of their own accord, and she casts her head around looking for a quick way out. She sees Sideswipe towering over everyone else on the outskirts and heads towards him, his hand coming down to scoop her up as soon as she's close enough.

"Congratulations, Ari," Sideswipe says as she wraps her arms around his neck. "You did it."

She grins. "Told you I could."

"That you did. I'm proud of you, sweetspark."

Yeah, she's proud of herself, too. A lot has happened since she decided to undergo N.E.S.T. training, but she feels more content now than she's felt in a long time. She doesn't feel like the damsel in distress, though she's never been much of one anyway. She feels that, if it comes down to it, she won't be so much of a liability anymore. She can help Sideswipe, the Autobots, everyone.

No more running for her. Now, she fights.

"You're not going to ask to go on missions with us, are you?" Will asks at Sideswipe's feet wearing his own military formal wear, a hint of a warning in his voice. "You promised you wouldn't."

Ari shakes her head with a small smile. "Don't worry, Dad, I won't. I never wanted to and I still don't. I just wanted to be better prepared to protect myself."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"She could always sign up for S.H.I.E.L.D. training," Clint says, both him and Natasha squeezing through the crowd to join them. "I'd love to see her tear the other recruits apart."

"Plus, she'd be good at it," Natasha says. "I could see you flourishing within S.H.I.E.L.D. very easily, _kotyonok_."

Will presses a hand to his chest. "You want me to have a heart attack? Don't go saying things like that. It'll give her ideas."

"No, I'm not going to join S.H.I.E.L.D." Ari wrinkles her nose. "I don't think I'd like wearing those catsuits. And besides, I'm still dead set on being Autobot Ambassador."

"How is that coming along, by the way?" Clint asks.

"Good. My first semester is about over and I'm right on track to finish college in just two years."

"That's quite the feat for someone your age," a familiar voice says over the commotion of the crowd. Galloway pushes himself towards them, looking over his shoulder with a disgruntled look as he gives his gray suit a sharp tug to straighten it. "Usually only someone with a very high I.Q. could manage it?"

Ari barely keeps herself from outwardly groaning. Great, another fishing expedition. "It's something like that. I'm juggling eight online classes right now, plus I had thirty credits transfer from my AP classes in high school."

"That's impressive. You don't have a hard time managing so many classes at once?"

"No, I have no problem," she says with a casual shrug, tucking her left hand between her body and Sideswipe's arm around her waist in order to hide her ring, "and I haven't fallen behind at all, not even during training."

"And how do you pull that off? You don't seem to have an I.Q. that high."

Ari resists her urge to stiffen, both from the underhanded dig and the not-so-subtle insult. "I'm afraid that's classified, Mr. Galloway."

A triumphant smile curls at his lips. "So whatever it is about you that you don't want me to know, it's made you smart. Smarter than you actually are."

Sideswipe growls but Ari holds up her right hand to keep him from biting out a retort. "I'm sorry, but that's still not accurate. However, if that's what you want to believe, go right ahead. It still won't get you any closer to the truth."

Galloway's jaw clenches in irritation. "If I know the truth, I can better protect you, Ms. Lennox. Anti-Alien kidnapped you because of whatever it is you are hiding, did they not?"

"Yes, they did, but they didn't get what they wanted and I returned home safe. All of the important people already know, all of the ones needed _to_ keep me safe. Anyone else would just be a risk to me and everyone else here."

"Well, they obviously didn't do a very good job of keeping you safe. I saw the incident report, however redacted it was. You were taken, tortured even. Are you sure there's nothing more that can be done?"

Now it's Ari who wants to growl, and being in Sideswipe's arms is the only thing keeping her from punching Galloway square in the nose. "There was nothing else anyone could have done to prevent what happened. The entire Avengers team could have been here and it wouldn't have been enough. So don't you dare try to make it sound like the Autobots and N.E.S.T. aren't good enough. They're certainly better than any protection you could offer me."

Galloway points a boney finger up at her, his face turning the kind of red that has nothing to do with the desert sun. "Now you listen here, little girl-"

"Mr. Galloway," a pleasant voice says and Natasha ghosts out of the crowd by his shoulder. There's a polite smile on her face that doesn't match her eyes. Galloway doesn't seem to notice, the anger easing out of him a little at Natasha treating him as a good soldier should, but Ari has seen Natasha with kind eyes. It doesn't look like this. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Galloway straightens his jacket a little bit, almost like a preening bird. "Ah, Agent Romanoff. Just who I was looking for. And where is your partner?"

"Right here," Clint says, easing out of the crowd right next to Natasha, arms crossed like a body guard, muscles bulging.

Galloway gulps a little, tugging on his burgundy tie. "Good, uh, good."

Clint's face remains stoic but Ari can almost sense that he wants to roll his eyes. "What did you need us for, Mr. Galloway?"

Galloway clears his throat awkwardly. "I wanted to know why the both of you are still here."

"What do you mean, sir?" Natasha asks, shifting her weight from one foot to the other so she's closer to her partner. "We're here on a mission."

"Yes, but your mission is complete. You were to find the traitor within N.E.S.T. and you've accomplished that. Lando has been dealt with. Now, I know you stayed on to see if there were any other traitors but your investigation is finished, is it not?"

Natasha gives a jerky nod. "Yes, we went through everyone else with a fine-toothed comb and they all came back clean."

"You see? Mission accomplished. So what are you still doing here, agents? Why haven't you returned to the Triskelion?"

"The mission isn't accomplished," Clint protests. "Anti-Alien may be in shambles but Ron Witwicky is still out there."

Galloway waves a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, I'm well aware of the situation with Dylan Gould, but he is currently in the wind and besides, that is not your concern."

Clint drops his arms to his sides in surprise, fists clenched. "How can you say that? He's out there somewhere, doing who fragging knows what with the Decepticons. We have to find him."

"He will be found, but it is not your job to find him and it never was," Galloway insists, eyes narrowed threateningly. "And in any case, there is no proof that Dylan Gould is Ron Witwicky."

Ari balks. "You can't seriously mean that. Ron is Gould, I am one hundred percent positive."

"We're going to need a lot more evidence than just your say so, Ms. Lennox, especially the physical kind, of which there is none. Everything on your father is wiped clean from every system in the world."

Ari itches to correct him on her "father" but he doesn't give her the chance.

"We can't treat him as Ron Witwicky," Galloway explains. "We have to treat him as Dylan Gould, and right now Mr. Gould is a very public figure. His name and the name of his company have been in the news quite a bit recently. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't just make a move on him, even if we could find him, not without proving he really is Mr. Witwicky. The best way to bring him down is to bring his connection to the Decepticons to light and the Decepticons fall under N.E.S.T. jurisdiction. They can handle this, so it's time the both of you came back in. There are S.H.I.E.L.D. missions that need your attention."

"You can't be fragging serious!" Clint yells. "You can't pull us from this!"

Galloway straightens his shoulders in aggression but he really doesn't have anything on Clint, though that doesn't stop him from trying. "Yes, I can. S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you for missions of national security."

"With all due respect, sir," Natasha says, the politeness now having a sharp edge to it, "but finding Ron Witwicky and the Decepticons is more important than national security. We're talking about the safety of the world."

"That wasn't a request, agents. This is a formal order from the World Security Council. You are to return to base to await your next mission briefs."

Clint takes a step forward, a string of Russian coming out his mouth that isn't nice at all, and Galloway has the stupid audacity not to back up. Thankfully, Natasha catches Clint's arm before he can do something irreparable, though the move only looks half-hearted on Natasha's part. Ari decides that she better step in before Natasha decides to let Clint actually act on some of the things he's saying, so she quickly has Sideswipe set her down, tucking her ring into a pocket of her uniform for safe keeping, and she steps in between Galloway and the agents.

"Come on, guys, let's calm down," she says, calmly holding out her hands on either side of her as she turns her head back and forth between them.

"But Ari-" Clint starts but she cuts him off.

"He's kind of got a point, Clint. N.E.S.T. can handle this, just like we've always handled the Decepticons. They're our responsibility, and you and Nat have other responsibilities you need to get back to. We'll be alright. Wheeljack has his computer scanning for them around the clock and that thing is more high-tech than anything S.H.I.E.L.D. has."

"I don't like this, _kotyonok_ ," Natasha says, the lines of her face turning more Black Widow than Nat. "What about when you do find them?"

"Then we face them, just like we always do." Ari smiles reassuringly. "We'll be fine. We're trained and ready for them. And if things get really bad, we'll be sure to give our favorite Avengers a call."

Natasha stares at her for a long minute, eyes flitting all over her face like she's searching for something, but finally she nods. "Alright. This mission is over. But we're not returning to base yet."

Galloway bristles. "What part of 'direct order' do you not understand?"

"There's nothing going on that our skill sets are necessarily needed for," Natasha says with calm assuredness. "Trust me, I know. So this would be the perfect time to take some vacation days."

Clint smirks knowingly. "Yeah, it would be. And Coulson has been bugging us about taking an actual vacation for months."

Galloway grits his teeth, staring at the agents over Ari's shoulder like he wants to drag the two of them to the helicopter, but even he isn't stupid enough to try something like that. "Fine. But if I find out you are using this so called 'vacation' to look for Dylan Gould I will send a Strike Team to escort you back to base. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," Clint says without a hint of seriousness. "But just so you know, if you ever do need to send a Strike Team after us, you better send more than one."

"Because we eat Strike Teams on the training mat for breakfast," Natasha adds, grinning like a hungry shark.

It unnerves Galloway as he finally takes a warry step back. "Don't forget to fill out a request form for time off and send it in to your handler."

And then he stalks off, presumably, hopefully, to leave. As soon as he's out of eyesight Ari turns on Clint and Nat. "You guys don't have to do this."

"What do you mean?" Natasha asks with a coy smile. "We're just going on vacation."

"You know what I mean. You heard Galloway, you can't keep looking for Ron."

"We won't, Ari," Clint says sincerely. "Promise. If you say you guys can handle it, we trust you."

Ari's brow furrows in confusion. "Then why are you taking time off to stick around?"

"Oh, come one, Ari." Natasha sidles up to Ari's side, linking her arm through Ari's to lead her in the direction of where Will and Rob are talking to Optimus. As they walk, she slips her hand into Ari's pocket to retrieve the ring and puts it back on Ari's finger. Of course she would notice the little sleight of hand, but Galloway didn't seem to notice at all. Which is definitely good. Their marriage isn't something Ari wants Galloway to know about at all. "You didn't think we'd really leave before you got married, did you?"

"Well, I don't expect you to stay if you really need to go. What you guys do is important, certainly more important than attending a wedding."

"Not to us it isn't," Clint says, walking on her other side and throwing an arm around her shoulders. "And besides, Tasha wasn't lying when she said they really don't need us for those missions Galloway was talking about. They can get other agents to do them and it'll still get done good. So, unless there are any Avengers-level events, we're going to stick around and watch you get hitched."

Ari smiles, catching Sideswipe optics where he's rolling along behind them. "Thanks, guys. That means a lot, to the both of us."

Sideswipe smirks. "That's awfully cocky of you to assume you're both invited, though."

Natasha shoots him a dangerous look. "Of course I'm invited, I'm helping the bride's mother plan the entire thing. That would make Clint my plus one at the very least." She grins playfully. "Though I suppose I could be persuaded to bring someone else as my plus one."

"Hey, you can't leave me behind," Clint says with his bottom lip stuck out like a petulant child. "I love weddings."

"Clint, you've ruined every wedding you've ever been to."

"I have not!"

Natasha arches a brow. "São Paulo."

"I didn't ruin it! That was more of a temporary interruption, if anything. Everyone made it to the reception after. Well, mostly everyone."

"Sicily."

"That was not me! That was that mafia guy!"

"Derry."

"That _definitely_ wasn't me. That was all on you."

"Hamburg."

Clint hesitates before admitting grudgingly, "Okay, yeah, that was my bad."

Sideswipe laughs. "Slag, how many weddings have you guys been to?"

"Several," Natasha answers primly. "They are excellent occasions for espionage since the mark usually doesn't personally know everyone in attendance. Now come on, we have work to do."

"Like what?" Ari asks.

"The wedding, of course. It's less than a week away and I want to finish everything in time so we can have a rehearsal. When will your maid of honor be coming?"

"The Friday before the wedding."

Natasha frowns in displeasure since the wedding is only two days after that, on Sunday. "That's cutting it a bit close."

Ari shrugs helplessly. "It's the only way Lina can do it without taking time off school. She doesn't do all online classes like I do."

Natasha hums thoughtfully. "Pity. But we'll make it work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Galloway is still around, getting in everyone's way as usual. But don't worry. I have plans for him.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	69. Bachelorette Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was difficult to write but I had a lot of fun doing it. I guess one of the reasons it was so hard to write is because I was fighting with the characters. I had already decided not to do something, I have told people I wasn't going to do it, but then the characters were like, "We want to do it!" *sigh* There's no stopping characters when they want to do something, no matter how many times I tell them no. I won't get all the way there until the sequel which is why there's no tag, but there was some foundation that needed to be done here if I was going to go that way. So, I made a liar out of myself and laid the foundation. Nothing major or anything, some of you may not even notice, but it's a start since this is something that's going to go very slow.
> 
> And to think it all started with a fragging hair color.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

It's weird not having training every day anymore. The habit of getting up before the sun is a hard one to break but once Ari's body realizes that, hey, she has the time to sleep in again and that's something she really enjoys doing, it gets easier to keep sleeping past sunrise. Being able to sleep the day away if she wants is really nice.

It's also kind of boring.

She's a few weeks into the second semester of school, the holidays no more than a mirage in the rearview mirror. She's finishing up the rest of her general education classes and starting the classes she has to take for her actual major, but even those classes aren't that interesting because they're mostly introduction classes, classes she's required to take before she can go on to other, more advanced classes that handle the more meatier facets of the subject. She's also finding all of the classes she's taking really easy, the homework assignments not taking her long to complete at all, so she has a lot of free time on her hands.

It gives her a lot of time to contemplate her upcoming marriage.

A part of her is scared. Will they really be able to make it work? Is this really practical? What if it doesn't last? What if the public finds out? What if the Decepticons do? Is this something she really wants?

Yes. The answer to that last question is yes, and so long as she can keep that in mind, the other questions flitting about her head recede into a small, annoying buzz. Irritating, but nothing strong enough to make her turn back now.

Thankfully, a very nice distraction arrives on their doorstep a few days before the wedding, in the form of a taxi cab depositing one Lina Spitz.

When Sideswipe's holoform informs her that the cab is pulling up Ari jumps off the couch where they had been watching a movie and races outside just as the cabbie is pulling Lina's luggage out of the trunk, Lina standing next to him. When she sees Ari coming she pushes her sunglasses up to the top of her head and holds her arms out wide like a sacrifice. "Hey there, chica!" Lina says with a wide grin. "Come give me some love!"

Ari laughs, propelling herself into Lina's arms and the two friends hug each other tight, not even noticing the cab leaving. "It's so good to see you, Lina," Ari says on a sigh, pulling back to look her over. Her eyes instantly catch on the stripes of bright yellow hair bordering Lina's face and her brow rises in surprise. "What's this?"

"Oh, just a bet with Fassbinder and Sharsky," Lina says solemnly but there's a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"So, what, the losers had to dye their hair?"

"No." A predatory smile spreads across Lina's face. "If I won they had to _pay_ for me to get my hair dyed. I creamed their afts, obviously."

"Obviously," Ari nods, taking a second to seriously take in the new look. "It looks good on you. I'm not sure I could ever pull off yellow hair."

Lina sweeps her hair over her shoulders dramatically, letting the strands fly out around her to then settle along her back. "Yeah, I wasn't so sure about it at first, either, but I've always wanted to try it so I figured, why the Pit not? Don't knock it 'til you try it and all that jazz. My parents would probably have a heart attack, though. Then again, that's nothing new."

"What, your parents don't like your chosen career goal as a hacker? I gotta admit, Lina, most parents probably wouldn't be too thrilled." Ari knows hackers aren't bad, per se, but there is a strong possibility of hackers leaning towards a criminal life.

"No, the hacking thing they're actually okay with, they just want me to go to MIT and get a government job using my hacking skills." Lina pulls a disgusted face. "Definitely not something I want to do. I mean, when have I ever been known to follow the rules? I would get fired within the week."

Ari smirks. "Always the rebel?"

"Precisely. So I'm going to a different school to stick it to them and then I'm to do whatever the Pit I want with my life. Not sure what that is yet, but hey, I'm only a freshman. I got time." Lina shakes her head like she's shaking the thought away. "But enough about me. I want to hear about you. That's the whole fragging point of this visit. I want to hear every gushy detail of what's been going on and then we're going to plan a bachelorette party. I have an awesome idea for it."

"I thought you agreed you wouldn't," Ari says, practically a whine.

"Sorry, chica, but no such promise ever left my lips." Lina hoists her large duffle bag on one shoulder while picking up her suitcase, hooking her other arm through Ari's. She then steers them towards the house. "We have a lot of work to do. You're going to like this. Trust me."

Ari worries her bottom lip between her teeth and then decides to just bite the bullet. "What do you have in mind?"

"Nothing good probably," Sunstreaker says, transforming to tower over them with crossed arms, optics watching Lina critically. "Fleshy. Nice to see you're not screaming your head off anymore."

Lina glares up at him, hands on her hips. "Yeah, I think I finally got used to the idea of giant aliens. Though I gotta ask, do all of you have such growly faces or is it just you?"

"I do not have a growly face!" Sunstreaker protests.

"Yeah, you do. I mean, I see Sideswipe smile plenty of times, but you usually look like Tommy Lee Jones from MIB with the constant frown."

"I smile! I smile plenty!"

"Yeah," Sideswipe agrees as he transforms to stand next to his brother, slinging an arm around his shoulders, "but usually that involves a really good prank."

Lina grins ecstatically. "Then you're in luck. I need some people to help me with Ari's bachelorette party."

"Lina, that's really not-" Ari starts to say but then Lina clamps a hand over her mouth.

"Yes, it really, really is. Now, we need to recruit some people. How many pranksters do you guys know?"

* * *

Getting Lina on base turns out to not be as hard as Ari thought it would be. Phil gets her permission as a wedding present, going right under Galloway's nose. So long as the man himself doesn't show up they are in the clear, but even then the visitor pass clipped to Lina's shirt should save them from most of the heat.

Lina's head is on a swivel as Ari, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker give her the tour, eyes sweeping around the constant activity of the humans and Autobots. She especially likes the computers in the War Room, her fingers itching to get at the shiny equipment, and no doubt the secrets held inside, so Ari is quick to keep them moving on.

They end the tour in the Rec Room, where Sideswipe called in all their pranksters, amounting to Evie, John, Clint, and Natasha.

Natasha is probably more there to make sure things don't get out of hand. Or at the very least to make sure she doesn't get caught up in whatever it is Lina is planning.

But when they join the others at the top of the scaffold and Ari goes through introductions, Lina simply stares dumbly at Clint and Natasha.

"What the frag?" Lina whispers, astonished. She moves her very wide eyes from the agents to Ari. "What the frag? Since when have you known the Avengers?"

Ari scratches the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, I've known Natasha since the Triskelion, after the Battle of Egypt. Clint I met more recently."

"And you're _friends_ with them? Two fragging superheroes?"

"You actually recognize them?" John asks, sharing a bewildered glance with his sister. "These two were on base for weeks and none of us realized who they really were."

Lina rolls her eyes hard. "Of course I know who they are. The Avengers was something I pursued on my site almost as much as Cybertronians. I've gone through every news clip and cell phone footage from the almost-invasion in New York."

"But these two didn't show up in footage nearly as often as the others," Evie argues, "and there was never a good look at their faces."

"Maybe not in any of the footage you've seen but there's a lot that was never released to the public. Easy to find if you know where to look and I always know the best places to look when the government doesn't want things found."

"Really?" Natasha mutters, eyes sweeping Lina up and down in intrigue, like a lioness before she pounces on a gazelle, but there isn't the same sense of danger in her gaze. It's a different kind of hunger.

If Ari had to guess, it's the same kind of look recruiters get, and isn't that a horrible thought? Lina, working for S.H.I.E.L.D., unlimited access to some of the best technologies in the world, and moral gray areas of how and when to use it.

Ari quickly jumps in, not wanting to find out if she's right on where Natasha's mind is going, and says, "So, Lina, I do believe you said you wanted to throw me a bachelorette party? Wow me enough and I just might let you do it."

Lina cackles in glee, almost villainous. "Oh, you're going to love this." She pats her duffle bag lovingly, like a good dog. Ari shifts nervously, wondering what's inside. She hasn't put it down since she arrived and has been carrying it around base, though she did leave her suitcase back at the farmhouse.

"Wait, if this is a bachelorette party, then why are we here?" Clint asks, jerking his thumb at John. "Isn't this usually no guys aloud or something?"

"Yeah, well, _someone_ shucked tradition out the window a long time ago." Lina shoots a good-natured glare at Ari and all Ari does is smile. "So, the party I have in mind isn't going to be traditional either."

"So no strippers then?" John asks playfully.

Evie jabs a sharp elbow into her brother's side, causing him to let out an _oof_ in pain. "I swear, I can't take you anywhere."

John rubs the tender spot in his side, giving his sister puppy dog eyes. "Gee, thanks, sis."

Lina sighs in exasperation. "Boys, I swear. No, there will be no strippers. I'm thinking of something a bit more fun."

Clint arches an eyebrow. "More fun than strippers?"

Natasha elbows him in the gut and this time it sounds a lot more painful, all of the air leaving his lungs as he doubles over.

"What's the plan?" Natasha asks, like she didn't just elbow her husband in the gut.

Lina grins, patting her duffle bag again. "I have ten, gallon-sized bags of glitter in here. Think we can get up to some mischief?"

Ari's eyes widen in understanding. "You want to prank the base?"

Lina's grin spreads from ear to ear. "Doesn't have to be the _whole_ base but, yeah, that's the general idea. So what do you guys say? Think we can come up with a few ideas?"

Ari's answering smile is downright devious. This is a party she can get behind. "Oh, yeah. But I'm thinking we're going to need a few more supplies."

* * *

Lina and the others hide out in Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's room, getting things started, as Ari, Natasha, and Sideswipe run to the store for more glitter. The plan they've come up with will need a lot more than just what Lina brought.

It takes everything in Ari not to laugh in excitement as she, Natasha, and Sideswipe creep back to the room as nonchalantly as possible, their spoils tucked in one of Sideswipe's compartments. It's been so long since she, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker pulled their last prank, and now they have a lot of extra help, new minds with new ideas.

This will be glorious.

Ari, Natasha, and Sideswipe slip into the room, locking the door behind them so no one can barge in and catch them. Sunstreaker is sitting on his berth with a box of blaster shells and a bucket in front of him. He's opening up the casings and dumping the contents into the bucket so that the bullets are now hollow. Clint, Lina, John, and Evie are then taking the empty ones and filling them up with glitter.

Glitter bullets. Anyone who shoots with these will cover their opponent in glitter.

And Ironhide and Jazz are due to a sparring match in an hour, with weapons. They're replacing the dummy bullets they usually use for sparing with glitter bullets.

"I can't wait to see this," Ari says to herself, jumping in to help fill up more bullets.

Once the glitter runs out and the bullets are finished they work together to get them back in the box. Then Sideswipe takes them to the weapon's locker to put them back on the shelf, right up front in the row of boxes so they're sure to grab it.

And then they wait, Sunstreaker projecting several security feeds on the far wall of their room so they can watch the action without being in the line of fire.

"Do you think they'll take the bait?" Clint asks, perched on his heels in a crouch at the end of Sunstreaker's berth.

"They should," Natasha says, sitting next to him with her legs dangling over the edge. "The psychology makes sense and it's not like Cybertronians are that much different than humans. They should grab the first one they see."

"Look, look," John says from Clint's other side, Evie leaning against his shoulder in anticipation.

They all watch the security footage avidly as Ironhide enters the weapons locker, grabbing the box of glitter bullets with barely a look.

They cheer.

"I told you it'd work," Ari says from atop Sideswipe's shoulder, Sideswipe sitting on the berth next to Sunstreaker. "Zoom in on the training room, Sunny."

Sunny does as she asks, focusing on one of the cameras in the training room that overlooks the Autobot side of the room. They see Ironhide enter, holding out the box of bullets to Jazz, and they both fill their weapons with what they think are dummy bullets. They then take positions on opposite sides of the room, waiting as the clear barrier lowers from the ceiling to separate the two sides of the room in order to protect the humans who are already gathered.

A fight between Autobots always draws quite the crowd, something they were counting on.

There's a held breath as the barrier is secured. And then Ironhide moves.

They don't use their blasters right away, not surprising considering one of the opponents is Ironhide. Sure, he likes his weapons, but he's also a mech that likes to use brute force. He goes at Jazz with his fists, swinging left and right, but Jazz is smaller and faster, making it difficult for Ironhide to land a hit. Almost a solid minute snails by like this until Ironhide finally catches a glancing blow, forcing Jazz to fall to the ground. He rolls with it, quickly getting back on his feet, but not fast enough. Ironhide's right arm transforms into his favorite blaster and he fires just as Jazz is turning around.

Just in time to get a face full of glitter.

Everything just stops, the soldiers watching holding their breath, Jazz and Ironhide just staring at each other. Ironhide still has his blaster raised at a startled Jazz.

Jazz, well, his entire face is covered in purple, sparkly glitter. He raises a hand to his faceplates and then looks down at his glitter-covered fingers.

"What the frag?" he says, voice incredibly loud in the quiet room, but that's what releases the dam.

The soldiers burst into a big, rolling laughter. Ari and the others join in, too, happy in the successful prank, but it isn't over yet.

"Who has been messing with my blaster?" Ironhide asks no one in particular as he stares down at his gun, his voice holding a quickly building fury. The plates in his arm shift, going through settings as he tries to figure out what's wrong.

And then glitter explodes in his face, too.

Lina lets out a startled laugh. "What just happened?"

Sunstreaker smirks. "I put a little bit of explosive in some of the bullets, just enough to make the glitter get everywhere without actually hurting anyone."

"Oh, that is devious!" Lina laughs. "How many did you do?"

Sunny gives her a rare grin. "Just wait and see."

Another one goes off in Ironhide's blaster and he lets out a string of curses, all in Cybertronian, as he angrily bashes at his beloved blaster trying to make it stop. One goes off in Jazz's blaster, finally knocking him out of his shock, and he laughs. _Laughs!_ It's this big, belly-rolling type of laugh that just makes everyone else laugh even harder.

Ironhide shoots him a glare that could melt even Cybertronian metal. "Stop laughing, you idiot, and help me find out what's wrong."

Instead of answering, Jazz aims his blaster and deliberately shoots Ironhide with more glitter.

Ari almost falls off of Sideswipe's shoulder she's laughing so hard, holding onto the side of his head in order to keep balance. Jazz keeps shooting at Ironhide while 'Hide tries to get away, glitter just ending up covering both of them and the entire Cybertronian side of the room. The soldiers continue to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, but then Ironhide stops in his tracks and turns on them.

"You think this is funny, do you?" Ironhide asks, question completely rhetorical and menacing. The soldiers know that, too, because they all suddenly stop laughing, the room going completely silent again. "I'll show you funny."

He stomps over to the wall near the transparent barrier and presses a button, causing the wall to slowly retract back up into the ceiling.

Jazz grins. "I like your way of thinkin', 'Hide."

Natasha understands what they're thinking, too, and stiffens. "Is this safe to be used on humans?"

Sunstreaker shrugs. "Yeah, it should be fine. The actual bullet explodes before impact which is what allows the glitter to get everywhere. So, yeah, perfectly safe. The only thing they'll get hit with is sparkly slag."

Ironhide and Jazz aim their blasters at the human soldiers and as soon as the wall is high enough, they fire, glitter exploding all over the front of the crowd. The soldiers aren't laughing anymore, now they're running and Jazz and Ironhide are the ones laughing, firing at the humans with glee.

Holy, Primus, Ari has never laughed so hard in her life. Tears are streaming down her face and it's becoming very hard to breathe, but she doesn't care. This is the funniest thing she's ever seen and to know she's a part of it happening is just so fragging _awesome_.

"Please tell me someone has more supplies," Lina asks in between giggles, "because we seriously need to do something like that again."

"Don't insult us," Sunny says. "Of course we have more supplies. Sides and I are the Kings of Pranks."

"Who are we going to prank, though?" Sideswipe asks. "We can't do Ironhide or Jazz again. They'd get suspicious."

Ari snorts. "Sides, they probably already think it was us. Seriously, we're the most obvious guess."

"True. But then that means we need to stay one step ahead of them as we're doing more pranks so they don't catch us. I really don't want another aft-whooping from Ironhide."

"Don't worry, we'll help you with stealth," Natasha says with an upturn of her lips. "It's something we excel at."

"They probably won't suspect us to be in on it anyway," Clint adds.

"Alright, but then who are we going to prank?" Ari asks.

Natasha's mouth curls into a full-on grin. It's one of the scariest and most conniving things Ari has ever seen. "We could always call Phil and get him over here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously kind of wish I could just keep going with this chapter. But I can't. Got too many other things to do because next chapter will be the long-awaited wedding!
> 
> But, anyway, this chapter. How did you like the prank? I'm not going to lie, I know nothing about bullets or firearms, so I might be bending things a little, but it was fun all the same.
> 
> As for the the thing I was fighting with the characters about...I decided to do Lina/Sunny. I know! I know I already told people I wasn't going to, it's a decision that I've been fighting with since the very first time I wrote Lina. I thought it wouldn't be logical, I thought about all the reasons it wouldn't work, and I thought I had won.
> 
> I was wrong. Lina and Sunny want to be together. *sigh* Who am I to argue?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	70. No Cold Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is. The wedding. Just so you know, I haven't been to a wedding since I was a kid and I don't remember much about how they work. Google helped me out with this one so if I did anything wrong, I'm sorry.
> 
> Writing vows are fragging hard, guys, seriously.
> 
> But this chapter was fun. And fluffy. And we get a tiny bit more of Lina/Sunstreaker.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Ari's hands are shaking but her feet aren't cold.

Well, they are in the literal sense, because of these ridiculous heels Natasha talked her into. They leave the tops of her feet bare and exposed. But her feet aren't cold in the metaphorical sense. No, her feet are nice and warm and sure.

She's very sure of what she's doing but she still can't get her hands to stop shaking.

"You'll be fine," Natasha insists for the tenth time now, gently corralling Ari's hair into an elegant updo that leaves strands of hair framing her face.

"Natasha, I'm going to fall on my face," Ari complains, moving to wipe her sweaty palms on her dress, but Natasha's hands flash out, gently grabbing Ari's wrists and stopping her before she can touch the silky fabric. Their eyes meet in the vanity mirror, Natasha glaring at her darkly, and Ari smiles apologetically.

"No, you're not," Natasha says, finally moving on from Ari's hair to make a few final touch-ups to her makeup. "You have better balance than you think you do. How else do you think you pull off some of those moves I taught you?"

"Then I'll forget what I'm supposed to say."

"Clint practiced with you all last night. You both know it by heart by now. Besides, you wrote it yourself. How hard can it be?"

"I don't know. How did you guys do it?"

"We sort of did a shotgun wedding right after the Budapest mission. Extraction team got us out but we slipped away once we were back in D.C. so we wouldn't get tied up in medical. It was all repeat after me and all that. We didn't do our own vows. Everything else," Natasha shrugs, "it had already been said."

Ari sighs enviously. "I kind of wish we were doing it like that but...since this is only symbolic we wanted to make it as special as possible."

"It'll all go great. I promise. Now," Natasha draws Ari to her feet, pulling her away from the vanity to stand in the middle of the room, "I do believe you are done."

They're in Ari's bedroom at the farmhouse, afternoon sunlight filtering in through the window. Natasha has been helping Ari get ready for the past hour, Sarah, Lina, and some of the femme Autobots shuffling in and out throughout that time in order to help. But now her outfit is complete.

She's ready to get married.

Natasha takes her by the shoulders and steers her towards a full-length mirror Sarah brought in earlier, leaning against the wall near the closet.

"Oh, wow," Ari breathes, getting her first full look at herself. She had seen the dress on herself before a couple of weeks ago when she went to pick one out, but to see it combined with the hair and makeup and just the knowledge that this is it, this dress is fulfilling its purpose _today..._ it almost looks different somehow.

Before, it was just a white dress. Now, it is a wedding dress.

And what a dress it is, because of course Natasha wouldn't let Ari and Sarah go to just any old boutique. No, she took them to some out-of-the-way place in L.A. that normal people would never walk into. The outside just looked like an apartment. There wasn't a sign or anything.

But the inside was an explosion of fabrics and colors; a full-fledged tailor shop where the owner, an old Russian woman, made everything by hand. She took Ari's measurements, they looked through some designs, Natasha and the woman talked together in Russian for a while, and then she sent them on their way. Then a week later she called them back to the shop for Ari to pick up the dress after trying it on and making a few quick adjustments.

It looks just as beautiful now as it did then.

The dress is made of the softest silky fabric Ari has ever felt, with a delicate lacy overlay. It has a sweetheart neckline, leaving her collar bare except for the lace. The lace covers her up to the neck and down her shoulders in cap sleeves, allowing her skin to show through. The bodice hugs her chest and then the skirt flares out at the hips, spilling down to the floor and creating a train that trails behind her, which is why Natasha insisted on heels. The train would be a bit annoying, dragging behind her like that, especially during the reception, but there are little loops attached to both sides of the train that are supposed to hook on each of her middle fingers that will help keep it off the floor when she wants to.

Ari giggles to herself, thinking she kind of looks like a princess. An alien princess.

There's a soft gasp behind her and she turns to see Sarah come into the room, Lina following behind her. "You look absolutely gorgeous, Ari," Sarah says with a wet smile.

Ari beams. "Thanks. You guys don't look too bad yourselves."

The three of them each have the same-styled dress but in a different color, even though Lina is her only bridesmaid. It's a sheath dress with a split in the skirt that goes up to mid-thigh, cap sleeves, and a sweetheart neckline that matches Ari's dress. Natasha is in a burgundy red, Sarah forest green, and Lina wears a deep blue that offsets the yellow streak in her hair nicely.

Lina grins, twirling in a circle in her high black heels. "I know, right? I still can't believe how well this dress fits me since you guys picked it up before I got here and you never got my measurements."

Natasha smirks, just a small twitch in the corner but it's there. "I'm a spy. I have my ways."

Lina narrows her eyes at Natasha, crossing her arms in front of her chest protectively. "You didn't do anything creepy, did you?"

Natasha's smirk twitches a little wider and Sarah laughs, patting Lina on the shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry. She got your measurements from Ratchet. He did a full body scan of you after Egypt to make sure you were alright."

Lina's shoulders relax. "Oh. Right. That makes sense, I guess."

Natasha rolls her eyes but Ari can see the fondness in them. "Did you get the rest of what we need?"

"Yep, we've got everything right here," Sarah says, stepping in front of Ari and rummaging around in the small clutch in her hands. She takes out a small velvet jewelry box and hands it to Ari.

"What is this?" Ari asks curiously. It's small but not the right shape to be for a ring.

"We need to stick to tradition in this if nothing else." Sarah nods her head towards the box, urging Ari to open it. "So, something old."

Ari opens the box. Inside rests a pair of pearl earrings, polished to a bright shine. "They're beautiful."

"My grandmother died when I was very young, but she left these earring to me so I could wear them on my wedding day. Now they're yours."

"Thank you," Ari says softly, setting the box down on the vanity and putting the earrings on. "How do they look?"

Sarah's smile looks a little wet again. "They look beautiful on you."

Lina elbows Sarah teasingly. "Come on, Mrs. Lennox, you can't start crying now. The ceremony hasn't even started yet."

"Sorry, sorry," Sarah swipes under her eyes with her fingers, careful of her makeup. "Right. Do you want to give her the next one?"

"Frag, yeah. Give me, give me." Lina takes the next item out of Sarah's clutch. "This was actually supposed to be a belated Christmas present, but it works for this, too, so I decided to wait. It's your something new."

She hands Ari a beautiful hair comb decorated with flowers made out of mother of pearl. "Oh, Lina, I love it. Where did you even find something like this?"

"I was exploring up and down the streets near campus, just taking a break from studying for exams, when I found this little pawn shop. You'd love it; they have the most random things there, but also some really cool things, too. It's, I don't know…eclectic but not in a yard sale way. Next time you sneak back on campus for an advisor meeting I'll show it to you."

Ari steps forward and wraps Lina in a hug. "Thank you. Seriously."

"Here, let me see it," Natasha says, taking the comb from her. Natasha fiddles with her hair for a few minutes, the teeth of the comb occasionally scratching against Ari's scalp, but when she steps back she has a satisfied smile. "There. Perfect."

Ari turns towards the mirror, turning her head this way and that. The comb is perched towards the back of her head, nestled among the curls Natasha spent a lot of time carefully curling. "Thanks."

"No problem, _kotyonok_. Now, as for your something borrowed, I expect those shoes back after your honeymoon."

"Oh, thank Primus," Ari sighs in relief. This wouldn't exactly be the first time Natasha has given her clothes or shoes to keep, but she's glad that's not the case this time. "You don't expect me to wear them again."

Natasha chuckles. "No, I don't. I know how much you don't like heels. And besides, those are some of my favorite shoes. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a pair of heels that are actually comfortable?"

Ari laughs as well, lifting her skirt a little so she can look down at her white shoes. They are surprisingly comfortable, now that she thinks about it. "Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be very easy."

"Alright, last but not least," Lina goes over to the vanity and comes back with Ari's bracelets. "We figured you'd want these as your something blue."

Ari slips them onto her wrists, stroking the blue jewel on one of them. "Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't feel right not to wear these."

Sarah rolls her eyes. "I can't believe you're wearing knives to your wedding."

"You can never be too careful," Natasha says, sounding like she's sure of that from experience. "That's why she's still wearing her pendant, too."

"And my anklet," Ari says. The anklet matches at least, it could even count as her something blue as well, but she almost wishes she didn't have to wear the pendant. The red kind of clashes. "I know a couple of people and bots who would get mad at me if I didn't wear them."

"Such a bunch of mother hens, I swear," Lina says with a shake of her head. "I mean, seriously, it's a wedding. What do they expect to happen?"

There's a sudden knock on the door and they turn to see Will slip in, dressed in a sharp tux. He grins, looking the four of them over. "Wow. You ladies look amazing. And you," he wraps Ari up in a hug, placing a kiss on the crown on her head. "You are absolutely beautiful, honey. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad," Ari says, snuggling into his embrace. "So are you ready to give me away?"

"No," he admits softly, tightening his grip on her, "but it's like you said. It's not like you're moving across the country or something. You're staying with us and we still get to see you every day. It's just...you're not my little girl anymore."

"I was never your little girl," she reminds him gently. He never got to know Ari as a kid. He adopted her at sixteen so it's not like he's had the chance to see her grow up a whole lot.

"Yeah you were," Will says, kissing forehead. "Yeah you were. But now you're all grown up and getting married."

Ari smiles sadly, resting her head against his shoulder. She wishes she had more time with him, him and Sarah both. She wishes she really could have been a little girl with them. But that time has long since passed. All they can do now is enjoy the time they do have.

"It's about time," Natasha says after a moment. "You ready, _kotyonok_?"

"Yeah," Ari says, pulling away from Will to see Lina holding two bouquets of blue gardenias. Ari takes the larger of the two, holding it firmly with both hands. "Let's roll out."

Sarah and Natasha leave with good lucks, off to take their places for the ceremony. Lina, Will, and Ari then descend the stairs, moving through the house to the back door. Lina opens it and they take their places on the back porch. Annabelle is already there to be the flower girl, wearing her own white froo-froo dress and clutching a basket full of flower pedals in her little hands.

With Natasha's careful coordination, the open field near the back of the house was transformed in just a few short days. Chairs are set up in rows with the Autobots standing around them, all in their bipedal forms. There aren't many chairs, maybe twenty or so, filled only with the people most important to them, the humans at least. There's Sarah and Rob and Clint. Evie and John, along with a few other N.E.S.T. soldiers, including Amole and Landers. Even Director Fury is here, who Ari is a little surprised actually showed up. She didn't think he'd leave S.H.I.E.L.D. for a day just to come to a wedding, but she's glad he's here.

It's not a lot of people, but it's the ones who count.

The chairs are divided by an aisle in the middle, cut with a white carpet starting at the porch stairs and leading all the way down to a white lattice entwined with blue roses that serves as their alter. And there Sideswipe kneels, Sunstreaker next to him as his best man, both of them in their bipedal forms. This part was very important to her, that Sideswipe be in his bipedal form instead of his holoform. He offered, it certainly would have made things easier for everyone, but Ari refused.

She loves his holoform. Really, she does. But she wants to marry the real him. She didn't fall in love with just his holoform, after all.

He doesn't see her right away. He's talking to Phil who's standing at the alter as well, acting as their officiate. Phil doesn't really have a license to marry, but it's not like an actual priest would do them a lot of good anyway since they can't actually get married, so they asked Phil if he'd do the honors of leading the ceremony as someone who simply cares about them and wants to see them come together.

It's another thing about this ceremony that means it isn't real, that means this all really is only symbolic at best, but it's still real enough for them.

Sideswipe looks nervous, probably about something stupid based on the raised eyebrow Ari can see on Phil's face even from here, but she's nervous, too, so she can't fault him that. But her feet still aren't cold, she's still sure about this no matter how real or not real it is, and she knows he feels the same.

Will offers her his arm and she takes it, slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow. "It's go time, kid."

Ari takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, begging Primus one last time not to let her trip and fall. "Alright, let's start."

Will nods to where Natasha is seated at the piano. She nods back and then her fingers are flying across the piano keys with the beginnings of the wedding processional.

Ari's heart picks up speed as everyone in the audience stands, turned to face them, face _her_ , and Sideswipe's face turns to see her, too. He grins, big and bright, and she feels her mouth moving to match his.

Lina carefully nudges Annie down the porch steps to start the journey down the aisle and the little girl dutifully goes, dropping flower pedals every so often just like they practiced. Once she's made it to the end where Sarah collects her, Lina starts down the aisle next in slow steps timed to the music.

They wait a few beats and then Will takes his first step, guiding Ari along with him.

She tries not to look down at her feet as they walk, instead keeping her eyes trained on Sideswipe. He hasn't stopped grinning at her for a second and it bolsters her confidence, makes her feet a bit steadier.

Plus Will is there to help keep her balanced so that's a plus.

It feels like it takes seconds and hours at the same time, but Ari and Will finally make it to the end of the aisle, turning to face each other. He bends down to kiss her cheek, tears swimming in his eyes, and then he takes one of her hands, placing it in Sideswipe's. It captures her again, just how different their hands are. She can't even get all her fingers to wrap around all of his. One big, one small. One flesh, one metal. But as Sideswipe's hand engulfs hers feeling strong and secure, guiding her to her place in front of him under the lattice, their hands have never seemed to fit together so perfectly.

Phil stands next to them with a happy little smile on his face, one of the few times she's ever seen him so open and warm. "Greetings, everyone," he says, his voice carrying easily over the field. "We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, the joining of Ari Lennox and Sideswipe in marriage. If there is anyone present with just cause as to why this couple should not be united, you can kindly shut up and keep it to yourself."

Laughter ripples through the crowd, Ari's and Sideswipe's grins broadening.

"Today is not just about marriage, because that is not the only thing these two are doing. They are joining their lives and joining their hearts. Though technically one is called a heart and the other a spark, they are, in essence, the same. Though Ari is human and Sideswipe Cybertronian, both of them aliens to each other, they have still found love, for they do not see their differences as obstacles but strengths.

"That love has guided them through many hardships, more than any two people should have. They both know what it means to lose, but through it all the extraordinary happened. They have gained something not many people will ever truly find. They have both gained a friend, a partner, a lover, and a protector, the kind that isn't fleeting but will last forever. In these rolls, they can accomplish much, persevere through the good and the bad, the big and the small. But today they both gain something more: a spouse who will be with them to the end of the line. They won't just accomplish much. They will accomplish the impossible."

Phil pauses, looking to Ari and Sideswipe. "Now, I believe you both wrote your own vows?" They nod. "Then you may go first, Ari."

Ari licks her lips nervously, trying not to mess up the lipstick Natasha painstakingly applied. She then looks up at Sideswipe and says, "Sideswipe, when we first met I was so lost. I was convinced that I would never find happiness, but you saved me, showed me that things could be different, that I didn't have to be trapped in the darkness forever. You became my best friend and then you started to become more. Falling in love with you was as natural as breathing. I didn't even know it was happening until I had already fallen. Us being together, us actually working, it should be impossible. But we've beaten impossible odds before and I know we can again.

"I promise to stand by you through whatever the Decepticons or anyone else throws at us. I will watch your back, I will be your shoulder, and I will be your strength. I am yours just as you are mine, now and forever."

Phil's smile widens as he turns to Sideswipe. "Alright, Sideswipe, go ahead."

Sideswipe's thumb brushes across Ari's knuckles, back and forth, as he begins to speak, "Ari, I've heard stories of sparkmates and how they find each other, have seen it happen myself, but during this war I never thought it would happen to me. But then I met you. Finding you was like finding the only star in an infinite black sky. You are my port of harbor, calling me home, and I was happy to go to you. I was happy to fall in love with you. But you're right, we should be impossible, you shouldn't be my sparkmate, but I don't care about impossibilities. I _know_ you are my sparkmate. I can feel it every time I'm simply near you.

"So I promise to not just be your husband by the way of your people but to be your sparkmate by the way of my people. I will be your Guardian, protecting you from all harm, and I will, I _will_ make you happy, even when happiness is hard for you to find. I am yours just as you are mine, now and forever."

"Ari Lennox," Phil says, "do you take Sideswipe as your husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

Ari smiles. This part is important to them, too, that they use as long as you both shall live instead of until death do you part. Because this is it for them, for both of them. Lifespans be slagged. "I do."

"Sideswipe, do you take Arianna Lennox as your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

Sideswipe nods enthusiastically, his optics never moving from Ari. "I do."

"Present the rings."

Ari turns to Lina, handing over her bouquet and taking the large wedding ring. It was specially made by Sunstreaker to fit on Sideswipe's finger. The band is covered in a gold alloy but it's made of Cybertronian metal for durability, even in battle, and Sunstreaker made sure that it would slide together smoothly with all of Sideswipe's parts without hindering his transformation into his alt mode.

She turns back to Sideswipe, slipping the wedding band onto the ring finger of his left hand. "With this ring, I thee wed."

Sideswipe then gently takes her left hand, carefully slipping her wedding band onto her finger next to her engagement ring. "With this ring, I thee wed."

"By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife," Phil says proudly, his grin showing teeth. "You may kiss the bride."

Sideswipe is quick to scoop Ari up off the ground and into his arms, head leaning down to press their lips together in a kiss. The emotions Ari feels coming from him are almost overwhelming, there's so much happiness, but it matches the happiness in her own heart and together they bask in it, surrounded by the cheers of their loved ones around them.

* * *

In a flurry of smiles and well-wishes and pictures and laughter, they move further out into the field where a dance floor has been set up large enough for even Cybertronians to dance on. Sunstreaker automatically transforms into his alt mode, bringing out his holoform to man the DJ station, which is just a table with a laptop connected to speakers.

"Alright, everybody," Sunstreaker calls out over the small crowd, dressed in a crisp black suite like the human men in attendance. "Let's get this party started, starting with the first dance of our lucky couple. Go be disgustingly sweet, guys."

Ari laughs as Sideswipe carries her out onto the dance floor, carefully perched on his forearm. "I love you, too, bro!"

He rolls his eyes at her. He wasn't very amused when she explained the concept of in-laws and that being married to Sideswipe makes her and Sunstreaker brother and sister now, but she thinks he's warming up to the idea.

He clicks a few times with the mouse and then music begins to spill out of the speakers, the first few notes that of a piano in a tune very familiar to Ari and Sideswipe. Choosing a song for them to dance to for the first time as husband and wife, it was easy to choose.

It's _The Last Night_.

Sideswipe sways them back and forth, moving in circles in time to the music with his forehead pressed against hers. The song feels real, now, more real than it ever has before. The last night is finally over. They won't be spending any more nights alone ever again. They will be everything for each other, everything either of them could ever need.

They'll hold onto each other and never let go.

"Have I told you that you look beautiful yet?" Sideswipe asks quietly, still turning them around the dance floor.

Ari smiles. "No, I don't think you have yet."

"I must have been too speechless earlier."

"You? Speechless? That's a first."

He strokes the side of her face with a finger and she leans into the touch like a cat. "Well, you're just that beautiful."

She giggles. "Flatterer."

"That's part of my job as your husband, right?" he asks with a crooked smile. "I'm supposed to shower you with gifts and compliments?"

"So long as some of those gifts are chocolate, then yes, dear husband of mine."

"Hey, since we're married now, does that make me Mr. Lennox?"

She barks out a laugh. "If you really want to be, you can, but that's not generally how it works. Usually the wife takes the husband's last name."

"But I don't have a last name."

"Well, I could be Mrs. Swipe," Ari jokes. "But it's probably best that neither of us change our names. We want to keep people from finding out about our marriage, remember? To protect us."

He holds her tighter, his smile falling a little. "Yeah, I know."

Ari leans up to kiss him in apology, not having meant to dampen the mood like that. There's just too many people who could use something like this against them. The Decepticons. Galloway. A reincarnation of Anti-Alien, if that ever happens. It's the same reason Natasha and Clint keep their marriage a secret. The ring will already lead to a lot of questions, but so long as everything else stays the same, they can protect each other.

At least they don't have to hide from everyone.

The night blurs into dance after dance after dance, the fairy lights hanging around the dance floor suspended by polls getting turned on when the last of the sunlight descends below the horizon. Ari gets her father/daughter dance with Will. Clint takes her out for a spin and then Sideswipe reclaims her hand, this time in holoform.

He looks really nice in a suite, it surprises her every time. And when she sees the ring on his finger, his holoform's representation of the real thing, she beams brightly.

Rob grabs a chance to dance with her, as does John. Sideswipe and Ari convince Lina and Sunstreaker to share a dance as their best man and maid of honor. Sunstreaker stays in holoform as Sideswipe takes over the DJ station, putting on a slow song that forces the two of them to get close. Ari swears she sees Lina blushing a little and she shares a knowing smile with Natasha.

 _That's_ going to be a lot of fun.

She ends up back in Sideswipe's arms in his bipedal form, her bare feet dangling in the air. She's not sure where her shoes have gone. Honestly, she's glad to be rid of them no matter how good Natasha insists her balance is. Those shoes were a pain to walk in, let alone dance in. Hopefully they got back to their rightful owner, though, or else Natasha is going to kill her. But that's far from her mind right now. Ari is flushed with joy, her skin hot and sticky, and she's a little bit dizzy from all that dancing, but this is the happiest she's ever been.

Of course, that would be the moment pain spikes in her head, sharp and hot. She cries out, clutching at her skull with her hands, Sideswipe's grip on her being the only thing that keeps her from falling to the ground. She can hear voices calling her name but they sound so far off.

And then she hears nothing at all as the darkness takes her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fragging evil, I know it, but I love it so much! At least you don't have to wait long since this is only the first chapter of the day. Which I will get to posting right now before anyone can yell at me.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	71. Always Meant to Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we're officially less than ten chapters away from the end of this thing. This fic has certainly been a heck of a ride. For everyone who's curious, DotM starts at 73, which will be tomorrow.
> 
> As for this chapter, I can't help but think I should apologize a little bit. It went a bit angstier than planned for a wedding day.
> 
> Okay, go onward and enjoy!

When Ari awakens in the desert she is _brimming_ with fury.

She scrambles to her feet, hiking her wedding dress up so it doesn't drag in the sand, and stalks over to the craggy mountains in her bare feet. At least she isn't still wearing the heels. This would have been impossible in heels and she's not sure what would actually happen to the heels if she lost them in all this sand.

Though it's not like she actually travels here…but that's beside the point.

The Primes are already waiting for her when she reaches the mountains, looking completely unapologetic. Which is completely unacceptable.

"What the frag is this?" she yells up at them, uncaring that they are some of the first beings in the entire universe and can squash her in a second. "Do you have any idea what day it is? It's my fragging _wedding day_. Why did you put me through all this slag and pain, worrying everyone, on today of all days? Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow?"

She had plans tonight, slaggit. Natasha helped her dress with those plans in mind. Now she won't get to follow through with those plans after all the time she took to get up the nerve for it.

She wanted to have her wedding night.

"We apologize, Ari," the first Prime says, "but it was necessary we do it today."

"You should be grateful we waited as long as we did, human," the largest Prime says gruffly. "I thought we should have brought you here as soon as the ceremony was completed."

Ari's hands clench at her sides as she tries to reign in her irritation. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't really make me feel better. Seriously, why am I here?"

"Why, you have earned another mark, of course." The first Prime points to her arm. "See for yourself."

She looks down to her left arm, to her AllSpark marks, and sure enough a new one has formed beneath her life mark, giving her now three marks in one column and two in the other under her mark for AllSpark. This new mark reads bond and she looks up at the Primes in confusion. "I don't understand. What is this mark for?"

"You received the mark because you married Sideswipe, because you love each other so much you wished for your two lives to become one."

Okay. Sure. She's gotten marks because of her relationship with Sideswipe before. "But what does this mark _do_?"

The femme Prime kneels down in front of her, a soft smile on her face. "Have you ever wondered where sibling bonds and sparkmate bonds come from?"

Ari blinks in surprise, the term bond on her arm starting to take focus. "Well, yeah, of course. Are you saying it has something to do with the AllSpark?"

"Yes, it does. You already know that the Well of Sparks is where sparks are born and that the AllSpark was once used to take sparks out of the Well and place them in newly-formed sparklings. But the AllSpark is also what creates the bonds, forming them as the spark or sparks are taken out of the Well."

"So…I'll be able to do that when I'm allowed to create new life again? I'll be able to create new sibling bonds and sparkmate bonds?

"Yes, you will, as it is according to Primus's will. But there is more."

"Really? What?"

"Your friend is right. Hearts and sparks are in essence the same, but none of you have ever realized just how much the same they really are."

Ari shakes her head. "I…I don't understand."

"Ari, think about it. You have been able to sense Sideswipe's emotions since you first met him. It was small at first, but it's only grown stronger as your relationship has deepened. Sideswipe already suspects the truth. Open your mind and see."

"I…." Ari suddenly has an overwhelming urge to sit down. As soon as the thought forms, she does it, her knees giving out and she falls to the sand with a small thump. She understands, she understands what the femme is saying, but she cannot comprehend. "I…Sideswipe and I…we're…sparkmates?"

The femme Prime's smile widens. "You are."

"B-But we're two different species!" Ari protests. "I'm not Cybertronian, no matter what the AllSpark has done to me."

"No, you're not Cybertronian, which is why you've never been able to complete the bond, but the bond is still there, waiting. Sideswipe can feel it every moment of every day, just waiting to be able to properly form. And now it can."

Ari's mouth hangs open. "I-It can?"

"Yes. With your new bond mark, the AllSpark will be able to bridge the gap of your species and fix your bond. Your heart and Sideswipe's spark are capable of it, you simply need a little nudge."

Ari runs her hands roughly over her face, like she's trying to make herself wake up. Because this can't be real. It has to be a dream. An impossible dream, that's what she's always called it. Her and Sideswipe shouldn't be possible, that's what they told each other when they first got together, but they decided to do this anyway. Sideswipe believes she'd be better off with a human because he thinks they'd make her happier than Sideswipe ever could. She believes that one day a Cybertronian will show up and turn out to be Sideswipe's sparkmate.

But _Ari_ is Sideswipe's sparkmate. There is no other femme. And if they're sparkmates, then that means they're meant for each other. There is no one else who is better for either of them. The perfect match. The missing piece.

Has Primus meant for this to happen all along? Is that why they've always been able to sense each other? Was this future, this destiny, really set in stone that much, carved that deep, just like Ari becoming the AllSpark? It's almost too overwhelming to believe, that the one thing she's wanted more than anything else has always been meant to happen. She never needed to worry. She simply needed to wait for this moment to happen.

Tears slip down her face, her chest feeling too big, too full, to contain them.

"It is alright, Ari," the first Prime says gently, kneeling down in front of her next to the femme. "It is true. You and Sideswipe were always meant to be. It is the will of Primus. So go." He reaches out and touches Ari's left arm, the bond mark beginning to glow at the touch. "Go to him."

* * *

When Ari gasps awake, eyes flying open, she can feel the moisture on her face. She must have been crying in reality, too, not just in the vision. The next thing she feels are the arms around her, big, warm, metal arms, and Sideswipe's face comes into view.

"Ari?" he asks, optic ridges furrowed in worry. "Are you okay?"

Before she can answer she begins sparking, strands of blue electricity arcing and weaving across her skin. It's like what happens when she heals someone except this is over her entire body.

Something inside of her chest gives a tug, reaching, and then the sparks begin to reach out towards Sideswipe's chassis.

She can see Ratchet quickly step forward out of the corner of her eye but she holds out a hand to stop him. "Don't," she chokes out, eyes never leaving Sideswipe's face. His optics widen in shock and awe and she knows he must feel the tugging inside himself, too. "Don't come closer. Everyone needs to back away. Now."

"Sideswipe?" Sunstreaker asks tentatively, his voice sounding oddly scared. "What's going on? You feel...weird."

"I need you to hold back, Sunstreaker," Sides urges, his body curving around Ari. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise. This is supposed to happen."

Ari doesn't know if anyone listens to them or not because the sparks reach Sideswipe then, connecting her to him and they both gasp, shaking, as an intense burning surges through them that is just this side of painful. It flows through Ari like lava, through her chest and through her head, feeling like she's breathing it in. She closes her eyes against it, starting to feel lightheaded from the overwhelming sensation, but then all of a sudden it stops.

And yet it doesn't. Because something is still there, in her head, it's just no longer hurting.

It's almost physical and yet it's not, no more tangible than a memory or a thought, but it doesn't belong to her. It has a sense of otherness, though it's not invasive. It's more like a puzzle piece fitting into place, like there's always been an empty space in her head she never realized was there but now this other consciousness has filled the void. She reaches out to it with her own consciousness tentatively, no more than a little poke, and it pokes her back, followed by feelings of warmth and affection that don't belong to her. It then grabs a firmer hold of her, gentle and soothing.

 _"Ari, can you hear me?"_ a voice says, not one spoken aloud but said inside Ari's head, sounding like Sideswipe. A grin spreads across her face and she nods.

They're connected. Their sparkmate bond is there and it's real and it's so much better than Ari ever imagined.

 _"You can talk back to me, Ari,"_ Sideswipe says. _"Just grab ahold of the bond and think the words. I'll hear them."_

She does as she's told, grabbing onto Sideswipe's presence inside of her. It almost feels like they're holding hands. _"I can't believe it, Sideswipe,"_ she thinks to him. _"I can't believe this is real."_

_"I can't believe it either. But how is it possible? Was it something with the AllSpark?"_

_"Oh, Sideswipe, you were right. Primus meant for us to be sparkmates all along. That's why we've been able to feel each other. We weren't able to complete the bond before but we could now because of my new mark."_ She holds out her arm, touching her finger to the bond mark and making it glow slightly. _"The power of the AllSpark was able to connect us, Sideswipe, despite the differences in our species."_

Sideswipe brushes a finger across the side of her face, looking down at her with so much hope that her heart aches. _"So...we really are sparkmates?"_

She leans into his touch. _"Yeah. Yeah, we are."_

"Alright guys," Will says, looking back and forth between them a bit uncertain. For the first time Ari notices that they're still outside, Sideswipe sitting cross-legged in the middle of the dance floor with everyone else gathered around. "You're looking at each other like Clint and Natasha do when they're talking with only facial tics. What gives?"

"We're not talking with only facial tics, Dad," Ari says with a broad grin. "We're talking through our bond."

Everyone exchanges confused glances. "What do you mean?" Optimus asks.

"I'm more concerned with why you were in pain and then unconscious," Fury says, a mix between patience and annoyance in his voice. He's the only one among them not dressed up, instead wearing his usual black attire with his long leather coat. It makes him stand out but it also makes him look very intimidating. "And why are all of you acting like it's a common occurrence?"

"Oh, yeah," Ari says in surprise, looking from Fury's stoic expression to Phil's slightly pale face. "This is the first time you've seen me get a mark."

"That was you getting an AllSpark mark?" Phil asks bewilderedly. "Is it always that...intense?"

She nods a little solemnly. "Yeah, it is. But at least I only have one left. I only have to go through it one more time and then...I don't know. I guess I'm fully the AllSpark or something."

"But what about now, Ari?" Optimus asks again, getting them back on track. "What did you mean when you said you were talking through your bond?"

Ratchet is the one who steps forward curiously, his scanners running over both Ari and Sideswipe. When he looks down at the screen on his forearm to see the results, his jaw drops to his chassis. He scans them again, and then two more times after that. "This can't be," he says, optics wide in shock.

Ari giggles. "I think we broke him, Sides."

"Well, that's not good," Sideswipe replies with a chuckle. "You're Chief Medical Officer, Ratchet. You're not allowed to glitch out on us."

"But it's not possible," Ratchet insists, voice heavy with disbelief. "You are Cybertronian and she is human. There is no way for there to be a bond."

Sideswipe shrugs. "You've always said my spark has been reaching out for her, Ratchet. With that in mind, do you really think it's that impossible?"

"What is he talking about?" Sarah asks, not getting it, but understanding is beginning to dawn on the Autobots' faceplates.

"Sideswipe and I, we're sparkmates," Ari answers, rubbing her hand along her marks. "We always have been, apparently, but my new mark made it possible for the bond to form when it couldn't before."

"Ratchet, is this true?" Optimus asks and Ari straightens, looking at their medic. Needing that last little bit of confirmation, too.

Ratchet nods, dumbfounded. "It's true. I can't believe it but my scans don't lie. Ari and Sideswipe have formed a sparkbond. They are sparkmates."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sunstreaker says, his voice oddly biting. He shoots a glare at Ari and Sideswipe. "And you just went ahead and formed the bond without talking to us about it? Without talking to _me_?"

Ari frowns slightly, not understanding why he's acting so mad about this. "We didn't really have the chance. As soon as I woke up it just...started. Is that not how it usually happens?"

"When two sparkmates meet for the first time, they can feel the connection between them," Optimus explains, "but that is all. The bond itself does not form on its own. Both bots have to be willing and consciously reach their sparks across the connection to form the bond. Are you saying that the bond formed without conscious thought?"

"It's not like neither of us wanted this," Sideswipe says, shifting Ari higher up on his chassis self-consciously, "because we have, for a long time. We were both very willing and we're happy it happened."

"But we still didn't actively try to make it start," Ari continues. "The AllSpark just activated on its own without me doing anything. Then there was this tugging in my chest, then this burning sensation, and then he was there, in my head."

"There was pain?" Ratchet asks worriedly, scanning them again but going slower this time. "Are you both okay? Are there any residual effects?"

Ari can feel Sideswipe poking her through the bond, suddenly worried of residual effects as well, and she sends him her reassurance. "I'm fine. We both are. But I'm guessing that wasn't normal either?"

"No, it wasn't. It should have been a fairly easy process. Then again, this has never happened between a human and Cybertronian before." Ratchet looks down at his arm thoughtfully, skimming through the results of his scans. "Perhaps...the reason the bond formed so forcefully is because it's been wanting to form for quite some time. Sideswipe's spark has been reaching out to you since you met, but it's never had anything to connect to before. Maybe the same thing was happening on your end as well, it was just nothing my scanners could pick up. It's like...there's been a door separating you two all this time, keeping you from connecting to each other, but you've both been leaning against that door, trying to get through. Then, all of a sudden, that door opens, causing the both of you to crash into each other. Painful, but you've finally connected like your heart and spark have always wanted to."

"But they're fine now, right?" Elita asks in concern.

"Yes, as far as I can tell their sparkbond is fully functioning and healthy, just like any other bond I've seen between any two Cybertronians."

Sunstreaker growls, turning on his wheels to stalk off further out into the field, forcing people to stumble out of his way in order to not get run over. Everyone stares after him in surprise.

"What has his circuits bunched in a twist?" Ironhide grumbles.

"I'm not sure," Sideswipe says, faceplates creased in worry. "He's blocking me out."

"Here, let me go after him," Ari says, motioning for Sideswipe to set her down. He does, keeping her hand in his until her feet are steady beneath her. "I'll see if he'll talk to me."

She takes a step in the direction Sunstreaker went and grimaces, scrunching her bare toes against the wood of the dance floor. It's either go across the field barefoot or ask for her heels back.

She keeps going. There's no way she's walking in those heels again.

Once she reaches the edge of the dance floor she gathers up the skirt of her dress in her hands, being extra careful that it doesn't drag in the grass. Even though this is the only time she's ever going to wear it, it would be a shame to ruin a dress as beautiful as this. Stepping lightly on her toes with an eye out for cow patties, she makes her way across the field towards Sunstreaker. Thankfully he didn't go very far and she's by his side in a few minutes.

He's sitting on the ground facing away from her so she can't see his face, but there's something in the rigidness of his shoulders that makes her stop several feet away from him. He's upset about something, though she can't imagine what.

"Sunny?" she calls out tentatively. "Are you okay?"

"Why?" Sunstreaker says, voice sounding hollow, sounding so wrong for him that her stomach clenches. "Why did you have to do it?"

"Do what? I don't understand."

"Why did you have to bond?"

"We told you, Sunny, we didn't have a choice, really. It just happened on its own." He doesn't say anything and she dares to get closer, rounding his side to get in front of him. He's looking down at his lap so she still can't see his face. "Sunny, talk to me. What's wrong?"

Something drips down, something liquid, pinging against the metal of his leg sharply. "You know what this means, don't you?" He finally looks up at her and she has to repress the urge to gasp. Liquid is pooling around his optics and spilling down his face. Tears. She wasn't even sure Cybertronians _could_ cry, let alone Sunstreaker, but with the intense grief etched into his faceplates they can't be anything else but tears.

Ari takes a step forward, reaching out a hand to comfort him somehow, but he leans away from her. She drops her hand, her stomach clenching harder.

"I like you, Squishy. Really, I do, and I can't say that about many people, human or not. I thought you were good for my brother. I haven't seen him smile this much since before the war started. I...liked you two together, so don't get me wrong. I've always been accepting of your relationship. Encouraged it even. But you two being sparkmates changes things."

"Why?" she asks, hurt evident in her voice.

"Because you're a human, with a human lifespan. And it is very rare for one sparkmate to live when the other has offlined."

The breath in Ari's lungs leaves her as suddenly as if she was punched in the gut, her legs becoming weak and giving out beneath her. She falls to her knees, heedless of the dress, and she can feel her face pale. Because she understands what Sunny is saying now. The natural lifespan of a Cybertronian is thousands of years, whereas the average natural lifespan of a human is eighty, maybe a hundred years if lucky.

Ari will die in sixty to eighty years, and there's a good chance Sideswipe will die with her now because of the bond. Leaving Sunstreaker without his brother, his twin. And that's _if_ Sunstreaker lives through losing his brother. The chances of one twin living when the other dies is a lot better than sparkmates, but the odds are still dismally thin.

Did she just...Did she just sign both of their death warrants?

"No," Ari says, shaking her head furiously. "No, I can't believe that. Sideswipe will not die with me."

"But he will!" Sunstreaker snaps, his anger making so much sense now, so justifiable. "I have seen sparkmates die many times and it always, _always_ , happens. If one offlines, the other is soon to follow. It may take an hour, maybe even a day, but it always happens. Sideswipe is going to offline when you do."

"No!" She climbs to her feet, scrambles up onto Sunstreaker's legs, and then firmly takes his face between her hands. He could shake her away if he wants to but he doesn't, instead meeting her fiery gaze. "He won't die, Sunstreaker, and do you know why? You're going to save him." He opens his mouth to retort but she shakes her head again, cutting him off. "No, you _can_ and you will. Tell me, have you ever seen someone offline with a sparkmate bond who also had a twin?"

"I...," he starts to say but then he pauses, truly thinking her question over. An inkling of hope shines in his optics. "No. The only twin I've ever seen find their sparkmate is Chromia."

Ari grins. "That means there's a chance."

He shakes his head. "There may not be. We still don't know for certain what would happen. Can't you just, I don't know, use the AllSpark to find out?"

"I can try." She closes her eyes, delving into the AllSpark and searching through the doors in her mind. There are so many of them now but she's gotten used to them and the order in which they lay, though to anyone else it may just look like a chaotic maze of hallways. There is an order, though, so she is quick to find the door that will take her to the knowledge she seeks.

She grasps the handle...only to find it locked.

"Fragging Primus," she growls, tears of frustration stinging the backs of her eyes. "He won't let me see!"

"So, what, I just have to try and hope for the best?" Sunny asks bitterly.

"Yes," she says, tears slipping down her face as she stares him in the optics to make sure he understands. "When I die, you use your bond with him to keep him online. Don't let him offline, Sunny. Don't let Sideswipe die because of me."

"I won't, Ari, I won't." Sunstreaker brings his arms up to draw her into a hug, taking her by surprise. This is the first time he's ever hugged her in his bipedal form. Actually, now that she thinks about it, this is the first time he's ever let her _touch_ him in this form, that he's ever let _any_ human touch him.

She wraps her arms around his neck, holding on tight. "I'm sorry, Sunstreaker. I'm so, so sorry."

"I'm sorry, too, Sunny." Ari pulls back to see Sideswipe standing over Sunstreaker's shoulder, faceplates looking so broken and conflicted. "I didn't...I never thought about what it would mean for you, being sparkmates with Ari. I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," Sunny says quietly, but with sincerity. He sets Ari down on the ground again and stands, giving her a sad smile. "I'm glad he has you. Sis."

She smiles back, taking the endearment to mean that he's not really mad at her, but this whole situation is still so far from okay. There's nothing else they can do, though, nothing else they can do to prepare, just hope that when the time comes...it all turns out okay.

Sunstreaker transforms into his alt mode and Sideswipe asks, "Where are you going?"

"Just for a little drive," Sunstreaker says through his stereo speakers, the sound carrying out through the open window. "I need to clear my processor. I won't be gone long."

Ari strokes his hood. "We're here for you if you need us, alright? All of us."

"I know."

And then he takes off, driving around the party and taking off down the road with his headlights blazing in the night.

Ari sighs tiredly, leaning against Sideswipe's leg. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

"He will," Sideswipe says, picking her up to cradle her in his arms. "He's already starting to come to terms with it, he just..."

"Needs some time to adjust?"

"Yeah." He's silent for a few moments, staring off after his brother even though he's long gone. "Is it selfish of me to not want to live without you after you die?"

"Maybe," Ari says softly, knowing now is not the time to sugarcoat things. "I guess the question you really need to ask yourself is if you really want to leave Sunstreaker all alone."

It's Sideswipe's turn to sigh, nuzzling against the side of her head. "No. No, I don't."

"It'll be alright, Sideswipe." She brings a hand up to hold his head against her tenderly. "Whatever happens, it'll be alright. Primus had things happen this way for a reason."

"Do you really believe that?"

She leans into him, giving him a proper hug, and his arms tighten around her in return. "I have to."

Sideswipe's presence in her mind grows closer, wrapping around her in an imitation of their hug, and Ari instantly reaches back, feeling warm and safe both inside and out. No matter what happens, she can't bring herself to regret this. This, being bonded to Sideswipe, it feels so... _right_.

The feeling of rightness echoes in Sideswipe across the bond, correlating into a single word: _Mine_.

Yes. _Mine_. Sideswipe is hers, just as she is his. Now and forever.

"Do you want to head back to the party?" Sideswipe asks. "We never did get to the food or presents."

She lifts her head to look up at him. "What about Sunstreaker?"

"He says to save him a slice of cake." Sideswipe leans his head down, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. The surge of emotions comes just like it always does but it's so much stronger now, fuller, more tangible. She can feel every little thing he is feeling when before when they kissed it was like she was only skimming the page.

There's his love for her. His happiness at being married. His absolute joy at being sparkmates. His worry over Sunstreaker. His fear for the future and for her safety that she never realized was such a constant to him before. And in it all she can feel his complete honesty, that he would never lie to her, that Sunstreaker really will be okay.

"Come on," he says when he pulls back, soft smile on his face. "You know Sunstreaker wouldn't want our wedding day to be ruined. He wants us to go back."

Encouraged by what she felt through the bond she nods, allowing Sideswipe to carry her back towards the dance floor where everyone else is still gathered.

"Is he okay?" Lina asks. She doesn't ask what it was about, just if Sunstreaker is alright. It makes Ari wonder if one of the others figured it out and shared the revelation with everyone else. Probably Ratchet if she had to guess.

But this isn't something they should be talking about right now so Ari plasters a smile on her face and says, "He will be. In the meantime, he wants us to get back to the party so…."

Her voice trails off and no one moves, just staring at each other awkwardly unsure what to do, how to get back to the happy atmosphere they had before Ari's next mark formed.

"Right," Clint says, clapping his hands together with slightly forced cheer. "So, who's hungry? Cause I think I could eat a cow after all that dancing."

They bring out the food Sarah, Clint, and Evie prepared, laying it out on a line of tables set out to one side of the dance floor for the humans. Energon cubes are supplied for the Cybertronians and the Autobots sit in a circle around the tables, blocking out the cold wind that's started to pick up.

Sideswipe sits right next to Ari, constantly touching her, fingers stroking her skin, and his presence snuggled close to her in her mind.

Contentment starts to settle around her, making her smile real. She wishes Sunstreaker was here, too, but she gets why he had to leave and she knows everything will be okay. So she lets herself relax and enjoys the rest of the party. There's food and delicious cake. There's more dancing and then there's presents, more than she knows what to do with.

The best one, though, comes from Fury and it isn't wrapped in a bow.

Ari's curled on Sideswipe's lap, open presents sitting on a table beside them. Fury approaches them next, empty-handed, and she looks at him curiously. "It's okay if you didn't get us anything, Director Fury. Honestly, we told everyone not to get us anything but, well, no one really listened."

"No, I have something for you, Ms. Lennox," he says wearing a secret smile. "A quinjet is just a bit too big to wrap."

Ari blinks in surprise, waiting for him to start laughing but he doesn't. "I'm sorry, what now?"

His smile widens in amusement. "A quinjet. It's-"

She waves her hand dismissively. "I know what a quinjet is. It's those fancy jet/helicopter hybrid things S.H.I.E.L.D. uses to get around. But you're not seriously giving us one, are you?"

"No, of course not. But I am letting you borrow one for your honeymoon."

"But we were just going to hang out here. There's not exactly many places we can go without needing Sideswipe to hide or constantly be in holoform, so Will and Sarah are going to go somewhere while we get the house to ourselves."

"No, you're not."

"We're...not?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has a safe house in California currently not in use and there are no missions currently in the area that would require it's use for at least the next week. It's secluded, so no one can just waltz on by and see Sideswipe in his bipedal form, but it's near enough to L.A. that you can venture into the city if you want."

"And you're seriously letting us stay in this place?" Sideswipe asks a bit skeptically. "It's not like a single room shack of a place is it?"

Fury chuckles softly. "No, it's not. It actually used to belong to Tony Stark. It's one of his smaller houses but since he never uses it, he decided to give it to us to use."

"Actually, I think Pepper did that, sir," Natasha pipes up. "She was getting rid of some unnecessary property after Stark made her the C.E.O. of his company. He didn't care either way and Pepper wanted to give us a sort of goodwill gift after we helped with the Whiplash incident at the Stark Expo."

"That's right," Fury says, nodding as he remembers. "Anyway, it's safe to say that it's a far cry from a shack. It's fully furnished, the utilities are on, and the fridge and pantry stocked with food. There's even a fairly large garage. You'll both be comfortable there."

Ari leans back against Sideswipe's chassis, a little overwhelmed. It's not every day that she gets offered a free vacation. Although this is the second time she's gotten the offer to go to a place belonging to Tony Stark. At least, this place used to belong to Tony Stark, so it's definitely not going to be like the average hotel room and it sounds like it'll be a lot better than just a strip of beach.

It's weird that she knows people who know Tony Stark, a fragging billionaire, superhero, and genius inventor. Then again, she also knows two spies and the director of all the spies. Plus a bunch of aliens.

When did her life get so weird?

"Thank you, Director," Ari says, a warm smile spreading across her face.

"You're welcome. And congratulations on the marriage and bonding."

"Thanks." She hesitates for a moment, uncertain, and then adds, "You won't tell anyone about what happened today, will you? About Sides and I being sparkmates?"

"Don't worry, Ms. Lennox. I already wasn't going to tell the council about the marriage. One more secret won't hurt. Besides, I'm not here today as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I came here as a friend."

Ari's smile widens. "Then, please, call me Ari. No more of this Ms. Lennox stuff."

He smirks, looking like he wants to grin but is fighting it. "Then by all means, call me Nick."

Oh, yeah. She wouldn't trade the weirdness for the entire universe. She doesn't want to miss any of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I really was originally planning on having the mark appear at the end of the I dos but then I decided not to be mean...as mean...whatever, just be grateful.
> 
> But, yeah, Ari and Sideswipe are sparkmates! Yeah, yeah, you probably saw it coming, but hey, at least it finally happened, right? Sorry about Sunny. He had to go and be a debbie downer on the wedding day. I meant to save that for later originally but it appears my original plans never pan out very well. Freaking characters doing what they want instead of what I want. Anyway, it is quite the problem they've got, now that Ari and Sideswipe are bonded. Don't worry. Remember, I'm a fan of happy endings.
> 
> So, next chapter is the honeymoon and there's probably a question you're all thinking: is there going to be smut? The answer is no. I want to keep this at a T rating and it's going to stay that way. Doesn't mean Ari and Sideswipe don't have sex, the details are just staying out of my fic. Another question some of you may be wondering now: will I be writing a one-shot with the smut. No, I'm not. Sorry, guys. That's just how I roll. I like my T audiences.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	72. Honeymoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is nice and fluffy. So much fluff! :D
> 
> And remember guys, there is no smut. Everything is still T here.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Once all of their things are packed and Ari has changed out of her wedding dress into jeans and a t-shirt comfortable for travel, she and Sideswipe say their goodbyes to everyone. Sunstreaker is back by now, standing a little further away from everyone else, and she goes to him last, after Sideswipe has had a chance to talk to him.

As she approaches he kneels down, faceplates shifted into a contrite expression that looks odd on him. "I'm...sorry...that I reacted like that. You and Sideswipe being sparkmates is a good thing."

She shakes her head. "No, Sunny, I understand. I would be upset, too, if I was you. But we'll make it through this, right?"

"Yeah," he says with an answering nod and a small smile. "Whatever happens, we'll be okay. In the meantime, welcome to the family, I guess. Though we might be a little mad."

Ari grins widely. "We're all mad here. But I'll tell you a secret: all the best people are."

Ari and Sideswipe depart from their friends and family with waves and smiles, Ari doubly happy that Sunstreaker is among them and that they were able to settle what happened earlier. To be honest, she doesn't want to think too much on it, not right now. There's nothing much they _can_ do about it, so she declares to herself that she's just going to enjoy being Sideswipe's sparkmate while she can.

They meet Fury at the front of the house so that he can take them to the quinjet. Instead of heading to some S.H.I.E.L.D. base, though, he takes them towards the back of the house and further out into the field, closer to where the cows are. It's close to midnight now, everything almost pitch black around them since the fairy lights around the dance floor have already been turned off, so Sideswipe picks her up to sit on his shoulder so she doesn't have to be careful of where she's stepping.

Fury has no problem with it, though, doesn't even give any indication that he's stepped on cow patties or avoided them. And he seems to know exactly where he's going even though it looks like they're going nowhere.

"Where are we going?" Sideswipe asks. "Because I don't see anything and I can see in the dark."

"Patience, Sideswipe," Fury says. "We're almost there."

"But there's nothing out here."

"Then I guess the cloaking device our scientists made is a success."

Ari stares out into the field curiously. They're closer to the cows now but there's something odd about the way they're standing. They're not all in a group like they usually are. It almost looks like they've formed a ring. Or they're standing around something. He did say cloaking device after all.

"Is it...is the quinjet fragging _invisible_?" Ari asks, squinting into the seemingly empty space in the middle of the cows. It can't be completely invisible, can it? She's never heard of such a thing before, not even among the world's mightiest heroes.

Sideswipe tilts his head to the side. "I think I see, I don't know, a sort of simmer? Almost like a mirage but it's very feint. Other than that, my scanners aren't picking up anything."

"Well, the quinjet is there." Fury takes out his phone and taps it a few times. "See for yourselves."

The air ripples in the empty space and then the quinjet appears like a fog clearing away in the morning sunlight. The cows don't startle at all, already used to the jet's presence even if they couldn't see it. The quinjet is larger than the average fighter jet but styled similarly, with its pointed nose and arrow shape, except the wings are broader and it has large, powerful jet engines. The back of the black plane opens up like a cargo hold.

"Wow," Ari says breathlessly. "An invisible plane. And just when I think I've seen it all."

"I can think of a few bots who would love to be able to transform into one of these," Sideswipe says with a grin.

Fury gives them a withering glare. "I don't know if I'd be able to allow that. I don't much like the idea of someone able to mimic a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle, even if it is an Autobot."

Ari rolls her eyes with a smile. "It's alright, Nick, it's no one on planet. Yet. You might reconsider by then."

He shakes his head. "Your pilot is inside already. Have a good honeymoon, you two. Try not to get into any trouble that requires me to fill out paperwork."

"No promises," Sideswipe quips, half kidding, half not. They all know the very real possibility of jinxing themselves. The universe seems to like to be funny that way.

Fury sighs. "I suppose that's as good as I'm going to get. At least have fun."

"Will do, Nick," Ari says and then they wave goodbye, Fury heading back towards the house.

Sideswipe sets Ari down and she heads into the quinjet, Sideswipe transforming into his alt mode and driving himself up the ramp behind her. There's barely enough room for him, his side mirrors almost touching the bench seating on either side along the walls, but he makes it. As soon as he's settled and parked he materializes his holoform beside her.

She softly mourns to herself the loss of the tux, Sideswipe now wearing jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket. It's not so much to herself, though, because Sideswipe smirks at her and she can feel his amusement through the bond. She feels her cheeks heating up in a blush. "This bond thing is going to take some getting used to."

"Don't worry," Sideswipe says, drawing her close with his hands on her hips and placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "You'll get the hang of it. You just have to learn how to share what you want and how to keep things to yourself."

She looks up at him through the sweep of her bangs. "You don't mind me keeping things from you?"

He looks down at her softly, cupping the side of her face. "Ari, the bond doesn't mean we _have_ to know absolutely everything about each other all the time now. I mean, it's nice that we have the option, especially if something is wrong with one of us, but it doesn't have to be like that. I'd never want to invade your privacy like that, and I don't want my privacy invaded either." He gives her a crooked smile. "How else am I supposed to surprise you from time to time?"

She chuckles softly, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his waist as his arms enclose around her. "And we both know how much I love surprises."

"Are you two going to be like this the entire flight?" a voice calls from the front of the quinjet, making Ari jump a little, and they both turn to see Clint peeking his head out of the open doorway of the pilot's cabin. "Because I know this is going to be a short flight but there's only so much of the lovey-dovey I can stand."

"Aww, come on, Clint," Sideswipe teases, holding Ari closer. "You don't' ever get all lovey-dovey with Natasha?"

Clint's face twists in displeasure. "If I answered that question, she'd have to kill you. And me, too, probably, just for telling you."

Ari laughs. "I don't doubt that for a second. So you're going to be our pilot?"

"That I am. So strap in and hang on tight. Like I said, this is going to be a short flight, especially in a quinjet."

Ari and Sideswipe look around. The seats aren't really accessible because of Sideswipe's alt mode so they head into the pilot's cabin. Clint sits in the pilot's seat on the left, flipping switches and pushing buttons that make the quinjet rumble to life, but the copilot's seat on the right is free. Sideswipe smirks mischievously and sits down in it, pulling Ari down with him so she sits on his lap.

Clint side-eyes them, unamused. "That's not what I meant."

Sideswipe shrugs innocently. "What? There aren't any seats left."

"What about your alt mode?"

"Can't get the doors open. Not enough room."

"Well, it's not like you really need to strap in. Just turn off the holoform until we're at altitude and let Ari have the seat."

Sideswipe tightens his arms around her defiantly. "But where's the fun in that?"

Clint sighs heavily, throwing up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Fine. But if she falls off and hurts herself, that's on you."

Ari snuggles against Sideswipe's chest, tucking her head beneath his chin. "Not going to happen."

He'd never let her get hurt. No matter what.

Clint lifts them into the air, the quinjet hovering as he turns it in the direction they need to head, and then they're off, traveling faster than Ari has ever gone before, even in Sideswipe's alt mode. Her stomach turns a little at the surge of adrenaline. She can't imagine getting to travel like this almost every day for work. Though who knows, maybe she'll be traveling to all sorts of places once she's officially Autobot Ambassador, maybe even on a quinjet.

The ride is short but Ari can already feel her eyelids drooping. It's late, or early depending on how she looks at it, and it's been a very, _very_ long day between the wedding, the reception, and gaining the AllSpark mark.

But she doesn't want to go to sleep now. There are things she's looking forward to about tonight.

 _"Just take a nap, Ari,"_ Sideswipe says through their bond, rubbing soothing circles into the back of her neck with his fingers. _"I'll wake you when we get there."_

 _"Promise?"_ she asks. She wouldn't put it past him to just carry her inside and straight into bed.

_"I promise. Rest for now."_

So she lets her eyes close, trusting that he will wake her up because he's never broken a promise to her before.

It feels like seconds later that he's shaking her awake, the night lit up outside the window by the lights of the quinjet revealing the trees and bushes of a forest. She stands up, stretching her arms above her as Clint powers down the quinjet and Sideswipe's holoform blinks off so he can back out down the ramp once it's lowered. She follows him outside and he transforms, looking around at the forest around them.

Something on the other side of the quinjet makes his jaw drop though.

Ari follows his gaze, rounding the plane to see the so-called "safe house".

She knew it used to belong to Tony Stark but she never imagined anything quite like this. If this is what he considers a small house, then when would he consider big?

The house is settled in the middle of a forest clearing but it almost towers over the trees, the canopy just a few short feet taller than the roof of the two story building. Its style is modern, _very_ modern, with geometrical shapes, sharp angles, and a lot of windows, even entire walls made of glass. But that's just half the house. The other half is the garage and it looks massive just from the outside.

"Who needs that big of a garage?" Ari asks as Clint leads them towards the garage door, opening up what looks like a power junction box to reveal a keypad.

"Eccentric billionaires and genius inventors, both of which apply to Stark. I think he mostly kept cars in here, though. He has a thing for cars. I hear each of his houses has a different set. Some of its older models but he has a lot of new, top of the line cars as well." He punches in the code and the light above the keypad turns from red to green, the garage door beginning to open. He slams the junction box closed. "Come on. This way."

Sideswipe has to bend down to get inside but once they're in he has no problem standing straight because the garage itself is wide open, taking up both stories on this side of the house. The room is mostly empty, old oil stains showing where the cars used to be, but the only things taking up space right now are a couple of crates shoved into a corner. Sideswipe could easily lay down in here while still in his bipedal form. For now, though, he transforms and brings out his holoform again so he can go with them into the rest of the house.

Clint takes them to a door on the left side of the room but before he opens it he points to another door at the back side of the room, that one having another keypad next to it. "That is the weapons locker. We decided to trust you and leave everything in it, so _don't_ go in that room."

Sideswipe gives him a two-fingered salute. "Scout's honor."

"Ha ha," Clint says dryly, opening the door to the rest of the house. "I'm pretty sure that only counts if you were actually a scout."

"I've been a scout for a couple of missions before."

Ari chuckles, taking Sideswipe's hand and following after Clint. "Not that kind of scout, Sides."

The door takes them into the kitchen, which is a huge stainless steel monstrosity that almost looks like an industrial kitchen. Banquets could be prepared in this room and Ari is pretty sure there are probably appliances here that she has no idea how to use. Clint goes around, flipping on lights, and she can see that the house has an open floor plan with no walls dividing the kitchen from the living room or the large oak table that serves as the dining area. The living room has a couple of couches and armchairs set in front of a massive flatscreen T.V. easily bigger than the one they have in the Rec Room.

"Alright, so, food is stocked, power and hot water are on, and you guys have internet and cable," Clint explains, showing off the space with a wave of his arm before ushering them towards a staircase to the right of the living room. They ascend the stairs to a long hallway with several doors. "There are four guest rooms, a study, and the master bedroom is at the end of the hall. You can take your pick of any of them, the sheets have been changed since the last mission and all that, but I recommend the master. The ensuite is _awesome_."

"Sounds like a plan," Ari says. She goes over to give Clint a hug and he returns it eagerly. "Thank you for everything, you and Natasha both."

"It was our genuine pleasure, kiddo," Clint says, pressing an affectionate kiss to the top of her head.

Ari tightens her hold on him, her chest getting tight as well. "You guys are going to be gone by the time we get back, aren't you."

He sighs, the rise and fall of his chest moving her with him. "Yeah, we are. We've overstayed our welcome as far as Galloway is concerned."

"Nat didn't say anything."

"Well, you know her. She isn't really one for goodbyes."

"No, I guess she's not." The tightness moves up to her throat, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. Clint and Natasha have quickly become a brother and sister to her. She doesn't want to lose them. "I'm going to miss you."

"Hey, hey," he leans back from her, hand coming up to wipe away the tears that are starting to fall. "This isn't the end. You'll see us again."

"Will I?" The only reason they came in the first place was because of a mission. They're spies. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Avengers. Missions are their life and work. Would a mission be the only thing capable of bringing them back? Would they ever be able to visit?

"It's not like you never see Phil."

"Phil is our S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison and he's going to be teaching me some things for when I become Autobot Ambassador. But when would you and Nat ever be able to come back?"

"We'll make time. Besides Phil, Nat and I have never had anyone in our corner before, and we always see him at work. But now we have you so we have motivation to actually use that vacation time medical and Fury keep pushing us to use. Whenever we take a break, we'll come visit. It may not be very often but we won't just forget about you, Ari. You're family now. And during the time in between we'll call and text as much as possible."

"I'll hold you to that," Ari says, sniffling slightly as she backs away and wiping at her face. "Take care of yourself, Clint, and tell Nat the same."

He ruffles her hair, eliciting a laugh from her. "Will do, kiddo."

* * *

Clint leaves and Sideswipe's holoform brings in Ari's bags from the trunk of his alt mode. She unpacks her things for the week in the dresser drawers of the master bedroom, using the time to shed her sadness over Clint and Natasha's departure. She knew they would be leaving soon, she just never thought too much on when they would be leaving. But they're gone now so there's no point lingering over it.

She'll see them again. Someday.

Right now, however, Ari is on her honeymoon. And this is her wedding night. It may be a little after one in the morning but it is still her wedding night.

Her mouth cracks open in a yawn, the third one in the past five minutes.

Slaggit, this is her wedding night! She had plans, plans involving the lingerie Natasha helped her pick out. She and Sideswipe decided that they'd try to take their relationship further on the physical side, see if Ari can handle it now since she hasn't had a flashback in a while, but she is so fragging tired she can barely keep her eyes open.

She pouts to herself. But she had _plans_.

Sideswipe chuckles behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing her back to his front. _"Don't worry,"_ he says through the bond, his lips a little preoccupied with peppering gentle kisses along her neck. _"We'll still have plenty of time for that in the morning."_

She sighs, both in pleasure and frustration as she bares more of her neck to him. _"But we're married now. I wanted to be able to do this on our wedding night."_

No matter how clichéd it sounds, she wanted the typical wedding night. They're husband and wife, sparkmates. They've given each other their hearts and their souls. Now she wants to be able to give him the rest, because he is hers and she is his.

Ron almost took this from her. It's time she reclaims that last little bit of herself back. She doesn't want to let the fear keep her from having something she wants anymore.

Sideswipe turns her around in his arms, holding her close and pressing a kiss to her temple. _"I know, sweetspark, I know, but I want us to do this properly and take our time. We can't do that when you're so exhausted."_

She sighs again, this time in defeat. _"Fine. But in the morning?"_

" _Whenever you're ready."_ He kisses her, slow and tender, in a way that makes her toes curl and leaves her wanting more when he pulls away, but unfortunately that'll have to wait. "Come on," he says, aloud this time. "It's time for bed."

"I'm not sleeping in this bed alone," she warns him, moving to the dresser to pull out a tank top and sleep shorts. "We're sleeping together one way or another."

Sideswipe rolls his eyes but she sees the laughter in them. He's always trying to get her to sleep in an actual bed and she always tries to wiggle her way out of it, which is probably just going to happen more and more often now. "As you wish, dear wife of mine. I'll be in the garage when you're ready."

"Okay. I'll be just a few minutes."

Sideswipe's holoform blinks out and she changes quickly, deciding she's too tired to take a shower and promising herself she'll take one in the morning. She then heads through the mini mansion and into the garage where Sideswipe is already laid out in his bipedal form, the space just big enough for him like she thought. He picks her up, placing her on his chassis, and she curls up on her side, snuggling into his warmth. His hands curl around her and she lets out a contented sigh, closing her eyes and allowing sleep to claim her before Sideswipe even turns the light out.

* * *

Ari isn't sure what time it is when she wakes up. Despite all the glass in the rest of the house, there are no windows in the garage. It could still be dark out for all she knows but she feels well rested so it must not be too early considering the hour she went to sleep.

Sideswipe's finger draws lazy patterns across the exposed skin on her shoulders and arms, making her shiver. It's not from the cold, though. She was promised things last night. Expectation makes her lower belly tighten, but there's also a fair bit of nerves. She's not entirely sure what to expect, if the ghost of Ron will rear its ugly head or not.

But she still wants this. She's wanted this for a long time now, but the fear has always held her back, not to mention she wasn't willing to compromise on the promise she made to herself that she'd wait until marriage, a promise she made before she even met Sideswipe.

But she's married now. And she's willing to fight against the fear, thinks she might be strong enough to actually do it. So she nudges herself up on her elbows and kisses him, pushing everything she's feeling right now at him. The desire, the anxiety, the excitement. They echo back at her, coming from him, and she pulls back. She opens her mouth to suggest they move this elsewhere when her stomach grumbles loudly.

She groans, thunking her head down against his chassis as he chuckles softly. "Come on," he says, setting her down on the floor so he can transform into his alt mode. She gropes for the light switch on the wall, flicking it on just as his holoform appears next to her, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, and he takes her hand. "Let's go get you some breakfast."

"But-"

He places a finger on her lips, his face suddenly so close to hers that her breath catches in her throat. He smirks. "You'll need the fuel for later."

She allows him to drag her to the kitchen, a soft blush dusting her cheeks.

He is so going to pay for that later.

A quick perusal of the pantry and fridge shows quite a few options for breakfast but they decide on pancakes, something quick and equally delicious. They work at the counter side by side in tandem, Ari mixing ingredients while Sideswipe preps the oven and a frying pan.

It feels so domestic. So normal. Just like any other married couple. She nuzzles her face against his shoulder as he's flipping pancakes, entwining her fingers with those of his free hand. He kisses the top of her head. This feels so right, so perfect, the bond sings with it.

Sideswipe plates the food and instead of sitting at the dining table they perch themselves on a couple of bar stools at the kitchen island. They eat in silence, Ari eating most of the food, Sideswipe stealing a piece of pancake every once in a while as she slaps his hand away half-heartedly.

Their legs tangle together and she breathes in the sense of peace this place has.

The glass walls on one side of the living room and the front of the house almost makes it look like they're outside in the middle of the forest instead of in a house. She almost wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it weren't for the soundproofing this place has. There's no chirping of birds even though they must be up and singing by now. Golden morning sunlight filters in through the glass, plenty ample to light the entire room without any of the artificial lights turned on. It gives everything a warm glow that keeps her slightly groggy mind relaxed and loose. It's so much different that the chaotic busyness of the base.

She could definitely get used to a place like this.

When all the food is eaten Ari gets up to place the dishes in the sink, making a mental note to put them in the dishwasher later. Before she can turn back around arms encircle her waist from behind and she leans back against Sideswipe's chest with a soft smile. His lips return to where they were last night, sucking gently at her neck, and her hands squeeze his forearms.

Her body is hot and flushed. It says it wants this. But the rest of her is still a little afraid.

Sideswipe can feel her hesitance, she knows he can through the bond, and he turns her in his arms to give her a proper kiss. He starts slow, nothing more heavy than when they first kissed, and his arms wrap around her more securely. Not secure in a constricting sense though. It makes her feel safe and protected. She sinks into the feeling, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He leans his head down then, deepening the kiss as he slides his tongue into her mouth. She moans, pressing herself as close to him as possible and just losing herself in him and the kiss. One of his hands slides down her back, fingers toying with the bottom of her tank top. They've done this a few times, toeing that line between just making out and taking that step further that there's no turning back from. It's enough to get her heart pumping, her blood on fire, and her skin oversensitive as his hands caress her, but they always stop before stepping over that line.

They don't this time.

He carries her up to the bedroom, bridal style since he didn't carry her through the doorway of the house, and carefully lays her down on the bed like he's placing a baby bird back in its nest. He's always so careful with her. He lays down on the bed, laying out on top of her, but he keeps most of his weight on his forearms on either side of her head. She finds that funny for a moment, that his holoform has weight, wonders how that is, but then he's kissing her again and most rational thought leaves her mind.

He's slow to settle his weight on top of her, of pinning her down more than she's been able to stand before, but the feeling of being trapped doesn't come by the time he's fully situated, her legs spread slightly in order to accommodate his body.

The kisses become more urgent, more heady, Ari not the only one moaning here or there. But then his hand slips fully beneath her shirt.

She pulls back, her breath hissing between her teeth in a gasp, and she catches his wrist as fear threatens to overpower her. A different hand touches her, Ron's hand. She remembers when he lifted her shirt up, when he touched her in ways that made her want to puke, and tears sting beneath her closed eyelids. She wants the memory gone but it won't be pushed away, digging its claws into her mind like a vulture about to consume roadkill.

A solid presence wraps itself around her, a presence she quickly identifies as Sideswipe through their bond, and she reaches back, clinging to the feelings of safety and comfort and love that he's projecting out towards her.

The vulture lets go, missing out on its meal today, and she sighs in relief as the ghost of Ron finally recedes. She opens her eyes to see Sideswipe kneeling beside her on the bed, one hand stroking through her hair as the other holds her hand in his lap.

"Are you alright?" he asks, face and bond full of concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she says, voice a little breathless. She tugs at his hand until he's lying next to her, both of them on their sides and facing each other. "We knew this would be a difficult hurdle to jump over."

"Are you sure you still want to try? I mean, if you aren't ready we don't have to do this now. We can wait."

"No, no, I want to do this." She scooches closer to him, slipping one of her legs between his. "I _want_ this, I'm ready for it." She bites her lip nervously, playing with his fingers absently. "Are you sure you still want to do this, that you aren't just humoring me?"

His eyes soften as he wraps her in his arms again, holding her close and giving her a small yet smoldering kiss. "Ari, sweetspark, I _definitely_ want this. I may not have been born with the same desires that humans are but this holoform still allows me to feel the same things a normal human man would. I want you, Ari. I want to explore this with you."

And so they explore.

They take it slow, Sideswipe running his hands gently along her body, but with the bond she doesn't even need to say or do anything to get him to stop. He stops as soon as he feels her fear building and then his presence is there, wrapping around her like a warm blanket to keep the monsters under the bed away. Eventually, the fear recedes, the memories of the touches that hurt, the touches she never wanted, replaced with just Sideswipe and she feels herself fully relax against the bed.

The ghost backs away. One last time.

After that they explore at their leisure, the bedroom filling with laughter. Sideswipe's lips follow the paths his hands took, giving special attention to her scars. They don't bother her as much as they used to, but it's like he doesn't even see them as ugly deformities, not even as he sees them all at once as he does now, including the ones on her stomach that spell out unwanted. He sees them as a part of her. He isn't put off by them. They don't make him not want her. He cherishes all of her.

She smiles, fingers carding through his hair in gratitude.

So they explore. And they fumble and they learn. They love. They cling together until they are both sated and sleepy, and then Ari curls against Sideswipe's chest with a happy hum.

"Thank you," she mumbles softly.

His chuckle vibrates in his chest beneath her head. "I don't think you have to thank me for that, Ari."

A sleepy smile tugs at her lips. "No, I know. That wasn't what I was talking about. I mean that I think I'm better now."

His arms tighten around her, curious understanding filtering through the bond. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's like you said, crowds will probably always be difficult for me to handle but everything else…I think I'm okay, that I'm as desensitized to touch as I'm going to get. I don't think even this will be hard next time."

His hand runs along her bare spine, making her shiver. "Already thinking of next time, huh?"

She hums an affirmative. "But first, I think I'm taking a nap. I'll need all the energy I can get, you know."

"Just how many next times are you thinking?" he asks, the cocky smile evident in his voice without her needing to look up.

"It's our honeymoon. So as many times as we want."

"And after?" He skims his hand over her hip this time, causing another shiver. "When we get back home? What then?"

"Well, the new base will be done in a few weeks. Everyone's moving there since the location of the current base might as well be common knowledge at this point and we've been promised our own room. I continue school and we just…enjoy married life."

She knows life isn't going to be that simple. There will be tough times in this marriage, but they've faced tough times before and they'll do so again.

Whatever the world, the universe, throws at them, they'll come out on top. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sniff* My little Ari has come so far. I'm so proud of her. She's come such a long way from where she started. I remember imagining this moment but it is so much better actually seeing it.
> 
> But the time for fluff is now over. It's time to roll up our sleeves.
> 
> This plot arc is now officially over and next chapter will have a time jump that puts us at the beginning of TF3. There's a lot of movie dialogue coming but there are a lot of changes, too. Ari is in a very different place than Sam was. I hope you guys like what I've done with it.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	73. The Call of Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a bit of a time jump so that we can get right into the next movie. To line it up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is before Thor 2. I know technically, if you go back and line everything up, Thor 2 was supposed to happen I think a couple months before this chapter's start but I want my sequel to be before Thor 2 as well. Thor 2 probably isn't going to happen at all because of the things I plan on doing with Loki. Plus I don't want Frigga to die.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is, like, half segue, half set up for the movie. I've melded conversations from different points of TF3 and I've changed a couple things in order to better include the existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. so I hope you like it.
> 
> Alright, go onward and enjoy!

Over a year passes. Quite a bit happens during that time.

For starters, Ari's and Sideswipe's relationship is still going strong, both emotionally and physically. Any lingering insecurities about being with him have totally vanished, in large part thanks to their bond. She's gotten used to always having him in her head. She's gotten used to projecting specific thoughts or emotions and she's gotten the hang of how to keep things from him so she's not so much an open book.

She loves always having him with her like this. It makes her feel safe and loved, and because of it she hasn't had even the smallest of flashbacks since their honeymoon that first morning.

As for the physical side of their relationship, well, that's a conversation she can barely have with Natasha, Lina, and Evie without blushing, though she still doesn't give them many details.

Things are great, though. Wonderful, even.

Sunstreaker calms down considerably about her and Sideswipe being sparkmates. He's come to accept it and what it could potentially mean for the future, but he's with Ari on this one. He's going to keep Sideswipe from offlining, no matter what. He promised Ari and he's like Sideswipe in that way. Once a promise is made, it isn't broken.

As for everyone else, the entirety of N.E.S.T. moves to the new base in Washington D.C. shortly after Ari and Sideswipe return from their honeymoon, all the Autobots, all the soldiers, everyone. Instead of hiding in the middle of nowhere they try hiding in plain sight, as a National Health and Human Services facility. It gives them the protection of the government, keeps people out, and allows them to have their own airfield without people asking questions.

And their cover is technically true. In a way, they are looking out for the health and safety of the entire world.

Ari and Sideswipe get their own room, Sunstreaker bunking with Bumblebee. They enjoy the privacy the room provides but they don't spend all their time on base either. They visit Sarah and Annie whenever they get the chance, which is easier than it used to be. Sarah and Annie don't stay in Nevada after the move, at least, not for very long.

Decepticons are spotted not far from the farmhouse just three weeks after the move, way too close for comfort, so they decide to relocate the two of them to D.C. just in case. No one is really sure if the Decepticons would go after civilians just to lure Ari or one of the others out, but no one is keen on risking it either. So they come with, much to Sarah's chagrin, but she understands the danger and this way she gets to stay close to Will and Ari. They're moved into the city under false identities and placed in a brownstone just a few blocks from the base, close enough for help to arrive in time if needed but far enough away that they won't be in danger if the base is ever attacked.

Turns out to be a bit unnecessary, though, because the Decepticons aren't seen again after that incident. They go completely dark, they don't attack anywhere, they don't try to kidnap anyone. They just disappear to a place that neither N.E.S.T. nor even S.H.I.E.L.D. can find. Though not for a lack of trying.

After a month of no sightings the World Security Council decides that the Autobots need a new direction in life, which Optimus and Ari actually agree with. No one is really needed to keep an eye out for the Decepticons, thanks to Wheeljack. Energon detectors guard the cities while long-range detectors search the skies for any more incoming Decepticons. So the Autobots start to help out with world problems. Terrorists, illegal nuclear sites, any sort of problem that could one day lead to humans killing each other and that any S.H.I.E.L.D. team isn't really equipped to handle.

This is the Autobots' home now. They don't want to see Earth destroyed like Cybertron was.

While the Autobots and N.E.S.T. are out saving the world, Will climbing the military ranks to colonel at one point, Ari diligently ploughs away at school. She finishes her first year of college with flying colors, taking on summer classes so that she can be finished by the end of her second year. Once the fall semester begins, Phil starts making regular trips to the D.C. base in order to teach her the ways of the politician.

By the time the fall semester ends and one year turns to the next, even Fury admits she's getting pretty good. Chances to use her newfound skills haven't come up yet, the Council won't let her officially step into her position until she has her degree, but she can't _wait_ to go toe to toe with Galloway again.

The end of the school year comes before she knows it, though, and then she's planning the trip back home to Nevada so she can walk at the graduation ceremony. She wasn't planning on walking at first, the school can just mail her the diploma, but Sarah nags in that incessant, rambling way she has. That, plus the Bambi eyes, and Ari soon caves.

It's hard not to, especially when she gets four-year-old Annie in on it, too. Now that girl has everyone wrapped around her little finger.

So Ari commandeers one of the larger planes so that she, Sideswipe, her family, and a couple of the Autobots can fly back to Nevada. She makes sure the plane is prepped, her bags are packed for the three-day trip, and then all she has to do is wait for everyone to get back from a mission. She doesn't know much about it, just that they were going somewhere in the Ukraine, but they're due to get back soon so she sits atop Sideswipe's shoulder in the main hanger, watching all the activity around her as they wait.

Their new base is really nice. They have everything in the same building now instead of having everything separated in a bunch of different buildings so it's faster to get from one place to the next. Catwalks connect each of the rooms for the humans and there are upper levels filled with technicians and analysts. They have mechanics specially trained by Ratchet himself so that they can take care of minor injuries and free up Ratchet's time for more important things and emergency procedures. They have more vehicles and helicopters so that more humans can go with the Autobots on missions and assist from the ground and air while being able to keep up. The Rec Room, Mess Hall, Med Bay, and Training Room are all set up similarly to the old base, so that humans and Cybertronians can interact with each other with ease, but everything is a lot nicer, from the food to the furniture.

And every space is almost constantly being used. They've expanded the N.E.S.T. force by hundreds in the last year alone, able to send several teams on missions around the world simultaneously while still having soldiers protecting the home front.

The only thing they haven't expanded on is their number of Autobots. It's been almost two years since Elita and the rest who were with her arrived and there's been no signs of any others coming their way. They're still hopeful, of course, but it's frustrating, not knowing who else is out there. Or if anyone else even is still out there.

The back hanger doors suddenly open up, the ones leading out to their private airfield, and Ari perks up. The Autobots roll in first, still in their alt modes. Jazz and Arcee split off from the rest to get a bit of work done with the mechanics so she knows there was a fight. Still not uncommon considering the kind of missions they go on but for some reason this time it churns Ari's stomach a little. Something doesn't feel right to her.

That feeling is only cemented when Sunstreaker enters the room and transforms into his bipedal form, skating over to them with grim faceplates. He's been going on more and more missions lately because of the calm period they've been in, including this mission. By the looks of it, whatever they found isn't good.

"What happened?" Sideswipe asks as soon as his brother is close enough.

"Nothing good," Sunny says, crossing his arms in front of his chassis. "The Decepticons where there. One of Shockwave's pets, Driller."

An image pops into Ari's head thanks to the AllSpark of a giant worm thing with multiple tentacle-like heads and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. She suppresses a shiver and shakes her head to clear the image away. "Why now, after all this time? What were they after?"

"We found Cybertronian tech inside an abandoned city called Chernobyl. Driller grabbed it but Optimus was able to get it back."

Ari's eyes practically bug out of her skull. "You guys went to _Chernobyl_? Wait, are we thinking the Cybertronian tech is what caused the accident at the nuclear power plant?"

Sunstreaker nods. "Looks that way."

"Not too many pieces of our tech could do something that massive," Sideswipe says. "What was it?"

Sunstreaker grimaces even harder, if that's possible. "It was a fuel rod to an Autobot ship. And Optimus is definitely not happy about it. Humans were supposed to tell us everything they know about our species before our arrival."

Ari frowns. "You think S.H.I.E.L.D. was keeping it from you? Why? What reason would they have?"

She feels a door in her mind crack open. Not very wide but just enough for a bit of knowledge from the AllSpark to leak out like smoke. She gently closes off the bond she shares with Sideswipe so he doesn't feel it, paranoid of the AllSpark affecting him negatively.

"I don't know, but that's definitely what Optimus is thinking."

There's a crumbling city, a barren planet laid waste by gunfire, and ships flying through the sky above the battlefield. The ships get hit and fall, one by one, until only one is left.

"Do we know what ship it came from at least?" Sideswipe asks. "Or where the crash site is?"

A lucky shot clips the ship, taking out a wing, and it goes careening into space away from the fighting and away from the planet, spinning deeper and deeper into the dark void, taking its precious cargo with it.

"No idea," Sunstreaker shrugs. "Optimus is staying tight lipped about the whole thing. Will called the top brass on the way back. I get the feeling Optimus wants to find out the truth from them first before he says anything."

"The _Ark_ ," Ari says, barely above a whisper as she watches the ship come close to Earth.

"What did you say?" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ask at the same time, both of their voices filled with shock and curiosity.

There's a lone survivor inside. An Autobot. A Prime.

She shakes the images away, her eyes catching on Optimus as he enters the hanger. He goes towards the back near a scaffold, not transforming into his bipedal form, just sitting alone.

"Oh, Optimus." He must be feeling so sparkbroken right now. A dear friend to him, long since believed to be offlined, has been so close this whole time and he didn't even realize it. She motions for Sideswipe to let her down and makes a beeline for Optimus, uncaring if he's closed himself off in his alt mode right now. Elita stands nearby, looking at her sparkmate with worried optics. When Ari steps close their eyes and optics meet. Ari tilts her head towards Optimus questioningly and Elita nods, taking a few steps back. But she doesn't go too far.

 _"Ari, do you know what's going on?"_ Sideswipe asks through their bond.

 _"I think I do,"_ she replies. _"The AllSpark showed me some things but not the whole picture. I'm going to try talking to him. At the very least, he could use some comfort right now."_

She knocks on his passenger door softly, knowing she doesn't have to tap hard in order to get his attention. "Optimus, it's Ari." He doesn't respond, doesn't even move. "I know what happened. I know about Sentinel. The AllSpark showed me."

The door opens for her and she quickly scrambles inside, using the side rail to hoist herself up and onto the bench seat. The door closes behind her and she makes herself comfortable, laying down on the bench seat since there's no real place to look when she talks to him anyway. It's silent at first, Ari waiting Optimus out.

"You know of the _Ark_?" he asks, his voice drifting softly out of the stereo speakers. It sounds sad, like an old blues song sung in a smoky bar, and she strokes his leather seat soothingly.

"Yeah, I know," she says, long since used to talking to seemingly thin air. "The AllSpark showed me how the _Ark_ got hit and drifted into space."

"Was...was Sentinel still online?"

"Yes. I can't tell if he's still online now, though."

"He has been so long without energon. At the very least he is in stasis lock." It's a longshot, but she can still hear the hope in his voice. "Do you know where the ship is now?"

"No," she says, feeling like she failed him somehow even though she knows it's not her fault. "The AllSpark wouldn't let me see that much."

But why did the AllSpark go through the trouble of showing her at all?

"I have a bad feeling about this, Optimus," she whispers, like just giving voice to the idea will give it life. "First the Decepticons showing up again and now the AllSpark showing me things. It only ever does that when I have to earn a mark. And if the Decepticons are involved..."

"You are afraid that an event such as Egypt or Mission City will occur again."

"I am. It's my last mark, Optimus. This isn't going to be as easy as just marrying Sideswipe."

The head of Optimus's holoform appears over the back of the seat, brow creased with worry. His holoform is sporting more lines on his face than when she first met him. It's been a difficult few years and there are more sure to come. "We will stand with you and help you all we can, Ari. You have my word."

She smiles softly, sitting up properly so he can sit on the bench seat next to her. "I know you will. But that's not why I came over here. I'm supposed to be comforting you, not the other way around."

His eyes shine in amusement. "It is alright if you need comfort as well."

"How about a hug then? That always goes both ways well."

Instead of answering, Optimus wraps his arms around her, drawing her close into his side, and she burrows against him. Optimus is big and broad, making it feel like she's completely surrounded. She relaxes against him, trying to push her worries away to focus on him.

"Are you okay?" she asks, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I will be okay once I have answers," he says, an angry timber to his voice like crumbling rocks.

She shrinks slightly, not in fear but in shame. "I'm sorry. If humans really have been keeping secrets from you, then I'm sorry."

He holds her tighter. "It is not your fault. You are not one of the humans I hold responsible. You could not have known."

"I'm still sorry. Do you want me to call Phil? Get him down here?" Since they're in D.C. the Triskelion is only a short drive away.

"That is unnecessary. He is already on his way with someone who may hold answers."

Ari groans quietly. "It's not Galloway, is it?"

"No. It is another agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., as Will tells me. Charlotte Mearing. She is supposed to be of a higher clearance level than Phil and can hopefully shed some light on the matter."

"When are they supposed to get here?"

Someone bangs against the side of Optimus's cabin and then Ironhide says loudly, "Prime! Make something of yourself!"

Optimus sighs, pulling away from her and blinking out his holoform. "Now. Would you like to get out first or not?"

She grins mischievously. "Oh, you know me. I like to make an impression on the newcomers."

He chuckles. "Very well. Stay still."

Optimus begins to transform and she stays perfectly still, only having done this with him maybe one or two times. She isn't worried, though. He doesn't even jostle her as he folds and unfolds until he stands to full height. Ari ends up on his shoulder, just as she always does with Sideswipe, and it takes her breath away again to see firsthand just how tall he is. Everyone is so much smaller than him, including Sideswipe who approaches to take her. She shakes her head though, wanting to stay with Optimus for now as he walks towards the nearby scaffold where Will and Phil stand with a few new faces.

Understanding filters down through the bond and she shoots him a smile. She needs to stand with Optimus right now, so to speak. As a friend. As an ally. And as Autobot Ambassador.

The one who instantly catches Ari's eye on the scaffold is a woman in her forties maybe, her auburn hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her skirt suit is impeccable and her eyes sharp behind thick-rimmed glasses. She looks up at Optimus, probably for the first time, and she doesn't seem fazed in the slightest, not even by Ari sitting on his shoulder. This must be Agent Mearing. She looks to be a woman few people mess with and those who do soon regret it.

A true hardaft. Already, Ari can feel her spine straightening to steel, even though the woman has yet to acknowledge her. Though it could easily be because of that, too. Hopefully she doesn't turn out to be another Galloway, belittling her just because of her age. At least Phil came with her, standing next to Mearing along with a younger woman, also in a skirt suit, carrying several different handbags like a pack mule.

But Optimus isn't one to be trifled with either. He leans towards Mearing slightly, resting his hands on the scaffold railing and optics brimming with fury. "You lied to us. Everything humans know of our planet we were told had all been shared. So why was this found in human possession?"

"We were in the dark on this also," Mearing says and Ari has to give her props for not breaking eye contact. "It was 'Director Only' clearance at Sector Seven until now."

"Phil?" Ari asks, not believing that Phil would intentionally keep things from them but needing to be sure.

"We didn't know, Ari," Phil says, allowing sincerity to bleed through his mask. "The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time probably did, or at least had the clearance to know, but that was before Fury's time. Same for the World Security Council."

Ari looks to Optimus and he nods, satisfied. "I believe you."

"Agent Coulson?" Mearing asks, face pinched and brow arched.

Phil gives the barest of sighs. "Agent Mearing, this is Ari Lennox-"

"I know who she is," Mearing interrupts. "I want to know who gave her clearance."

A headache is beginning to throb behind Ari's eyes. Oh, yeah, she's turning out to be just like Galloway.

"Ari has had clearance since the very beginning," Will says, one of his hands gripping the railing so hard his knuckles turn white. "She's had clearance longer than you have."

"Here's the thing, Colonel Lennox. We cannot entrust national security to teenagers, unless I missed a policy paper. Are we doing that now?"

She directs the question over her shoulder to the woman holding all the handbags, probably her assistant. The woman shakes her head, seeming unsure if Mearing is being rhetorical or not but answering anyway. "N-No."

Mearing nods in satisfaction then points a perfectly manicured finger up at Ari with a threatening glare. "I don't care who you are. If you breathe a word of what you see in here, you will do time for treason. Do you understand me?"

Ari can feel a furious growl building in Sideswipe but she reaches out through the bond to soothe him before he can actually do anything. This is her fight. She will handle it. She then tilts her chin up at the woman defiantly. "Yeah, I've just got two things to say. One: I'm not a teenager. I'm twenty years old; I haven't been a teenager in a while. And two: I don't take orders from you."

"I don't care how old you are. I am in charge of national intelligence for the United States, meaning the CIA, the FBI, all those alphabet intelligence agencies report to me."

"But that doesn't include N.E.S.T.. Phil is our liaison with S.H.I.E.L.D., not you."

"You are still on American soil."

Ari scoffs lightly. "That's doesn't mean slag. We are an international organization, not just American. I will answer to N.E.S.T., the Autobots, Phil, Nick, and the Council, but you are not on that list."

The muscles in Mearing's jaw tic as she grinds her teeth. "You better hope that doesn't change."

Ari suppresses a smirk. "Either way, I'm not worried. Now, I believe you have some information for us?"

Mearing holds out a hand to her assistant expectantly, her agitation barely contained. "The bag."

The assistant shuffles through the many bags in her hand in confusion. "Which bag?"

"Hermes Birkin. Green ostrich." When the right one is presented to her she snatches it out of the assistant's hand, mumbling under her breath in annoyance. She pulls a file from the bag, leafing through the pages, already tuning Ari out again and focusing on Optimus. "This fuel rod, it is a secret few men knew, and fewer still remain alive. Allow me to please introduce to you two of N.A.S.A.'s founding mission directors and astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, one of the first two men to step foot on the moon." She waves her hand out to present three older men in formal military uniforms approaching the bottom of the scaffold. "Sir? Optimus Prime."

Optimus kneels down in front of them so they don't have to climb the stairs, showing them a lot more respect than he was showing Mearing. Ari climbs off of his shoulder so as not to be in the way. This must be big for men like these, who have always looked towards space with dreams in their eyes.

"From a fellow space traveler, it's a true honor," Buzz says, clear awe in his voice as he stares up at Optimus.

"The honor is mine," Optimus replies with a humbled nod of his head.

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Ms. Lennox," Buzz says to her, holding out a hand to shake.

She takes it, feeling a bit starry-eyed herself. This is one of the most famous astronauts in American history and she's shaking his hand. "I think I should be the one more honored here."

"I don't know about that. I was one of the first men on the moon but you were one of the first humans to meet an alien species. That is quite the accomplishment."

She looks up at Sideswipe over his head, the two of them sharing a grin as they think of their first meeting. "Yeah. It's been quite the wild ride."

Mearing clears her throat pointedly. "Let's get back to the point, shall we? Our entire space race of the 1960s, it appears, was in response to an event."

"Our astronauts investigated a crashed alien ship on the dark side of the moon," one of the N.A.S.A. directors begins. "No survivors were found onboard."

Buzz shakes his head sadly. "We were sworn to secrecy by our Commander in Chief."

"A total of thirty-five people knew the real plan at N.A.S.A.."

" _Are they saying the lunar landing was a cover-up?"_ Ari asks Sideswipe through their bond, saturated with her surprise.

" _Yeah,"_ Sideswipe says, his own disbelief showing. _"I think that's what they said."_

"In the meantime, Soviets managed to land unmanned probes," the other NASA director says. "Somehow they must have picked up that fuel rod."

"We believe the Russians deduced that the rod was a fissionable fuel assembly," Mearing continues, "believed they had it mastered and tried to harness it at Chernobyl."

"We landed six missions in all. We took hundreds of photos and samples, then locked them away forever when the moon program was shut down."

"Well, did you search the crash vault?" Ironhide asks.

They shake their heads. It makes Ari wonder how big the ship is if they couldn't explore all of it with six missions' worth of exploration.

"That's all we know," Phil says, "but is there anything more you can fill in?"

"The ship's name was the _Ark_ ," Optimus replies, optics far off with visions probably similar to what Ari saw from the AllSpark. "I watched it escape Cybertron myself. It was carrying an Autobot technology which would have won us the war. And...its captain..."

"Who was its captain?" Mearing asks.

"The great Sentinel Prime, the technology's inventor. He was commander of the Autobots before me. It's imperative that I find it, _before_ the Decepticons learn of its location. Our Autobot spacecraft has the ability to get there. And," he looks down at Ari, worry written all over his faceplates, "you must pray it's in time."

Her hands clench at her sides. This is it, what the AllSpark is trying to warn her about. The _Ark_ is on the moon and they need to get to the crash site to gather its cargo and Sentinel before the Decepticons can get there. Because whatever it is, it's dangerous enough to bring the Decepticons out of their self-imposed exile.

And if it's that dangerous, then Ari could very well be right. There's another battle just over the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Lots of changes.
> 
> Ari is right at the end of college, not a couple months post college.
> 
> Mearing works for S.H.I.E.L.D. cause I've made N.E.S.T. international instead of just U.S. and there's no way S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be getting involved with all of this.
> 
> I melded a couple of conversations because Ari is in on everything from the beginning, not just when they get Sentinel, so Mearing meets our hero sooner.
> 
> And Ari is discovering all of the clues in totally different ways. Part of it is the AllSpark, like what you see here, but next chapter we'll see our favorite spysassian again.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	74. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has Sentinel waking up, if you can't tell by the chapter title. Ari has more questions than answers, but finding a way of getting those answers is close at hand.
> 
> I couldn't do Simmons, guys. I'm sorry. I just...I don't know, he's in it for so little of the movie that I just didn't want to bother with him.
> 
> Anyway, just go onward and enjoy!

Suffice it to say, Ari isn't going to her graduation anymore.

She gives her school a call as soon as Optimus, Ratchet, and a few others hop on a plane to Florida, where the _Xanthium_ is parked at Cape Canaveral and being prepped for launch. The college isn't happy to take her off the roster at such short notice and have to scramble to get her diploma in the mail so she can get it within the next week, but they don't ask many more questions once she tells them it's a family emergency.

And this is about family. The AllSpark has shown her a few things about Sentinel, what he was like before and during the war, what he was like with Optimus, and he is family, the human equivalent of Optimus's uncle. She hates that all she can do is wait and pray to Primus that Sentinel is still at the very least intact.

But she does have her reservations.

There's a door leading further into the events of Sentinel's life that the AllSpark won't let her open no matter how much she pulls at the knob. She can sense what it contains, information on the _Ark_ 's cargo and the final days leading up to the ship's disappearance, but it won't let her _see_. There's something about the door that's troubling her, making her desperate to find out what's beyond it. A sense of deep foreboding that she can feel all the way down to her bones. That something about Sentinel just isn't right.

She has to be wrong, she keeps telling herself. Sentinel is an Autobot. He's family.

But so was Ron. Or, at least, he was supposed to be.

Sideswipe holds her tighter in his arms, his thumb stroking along her arm comfortingly. "Everything will be alight, Ari. You'll see."

She leans her head back against his chassis, staring unseeing at the T.V. they sit in front of in the Rec Room. "Don't turn that into a promise, Sideswipe. I get the feeling you won't be able to keep it."

"Then how about I promise to keep you safe?"

She smiles, small but there. "That sounds better."

It's about all they can do. That and wait.

By the time the team returns over twenty-four hours have gone by since they set out, the sky long since gone black like the void they just ventured through. It's an oddly short amount of time for going all the way to the moon and back, but when taking a rocket any distance must seem short.

Sideswipe and Ari head for the main hanger once they hear the news and they get just a glimpse of the cargo the team found within the ship before it is carted off to the vault. Five sticks or poles, each about as tall as her.

She yanks at the door again, hoping for answers, but it still won't let her in.

"Ari," Optimus says and she looks away from where Mearing is overseeing the technology's safe storage. Optimus is hesitant, almost shy, as he approaches them, and she gives him an encouraging smile.

"What's up, big guy?" she asks. "How was space?"

"Just as beautiful as the last time I traveled through it." He takes in a deep breath, like he's bracing himself. "I have a favor to ask, my friend."

"Let me guess, you want me to revive Sentinel?"

He chuckles softly. "If it is not too much to ask. I know a revival such as this takes a lot out of you, but his stores of energon are completely depleted and he's gone into stasis lock. Not even Ratchet can help him now. Only you as the AllSpark."

"You didn't need to ask, Optimus," she says and his shoulders slump in relief. She shakes her head, repressing a laugh. Like she would actually say no to him, especially about something like this. He cares about Sentinel a lot, that much is obvious. "Where is he now?"

"In the Med Bay, in case something goes wrong." He motions for them to follow and the three of them head for the Med Bay where people have already gathered. Will, Rob, Mearing, and Phil are up on the catwalks along with what looks like most of the off-duty soldiers right now. The Autobots are gathered at the front of the room, stepping aside so that they can enter.

Sentinel is laid out on one of the large slabs, Ratchet hovering over him conducting scans. His resemblance to Optimus takes her by surprise for a moment, the shapes of their faces and the red and blue coloring, except that Sentinel is larger and has a beard.

Sideswipe places her directly on Sentinel's chassis, her sneakers squeaking a little on the metal plates as she finds her footing, but she doesn't move. Instead, she looks up at Mearing on the catwalk not far away, contemplating. "You don't have clearance for this," Ari says, raising her voice a little in order to be heard.

"What?" Mearing squawks reproachfully. "Don't talk to me about clearance, little girl. I have a higher security clearance than anyone in this room."

"It doesn't matter what level you are. That's not what this is about. _I_ get to decide who knows this secret, a secret not even the Council has the authority to divulge. They only know it out of necessity. Few others outside of the people on this base do. Those not a part of N.E.S.T. have to earn my trust before finding out and you haven't done that yet. So leave, Agent Mearing, before I ask someone to have you removed."

The agent holds her ground stubbornly. "I was ordered to see this case through to the end. I can't just leave."

"How about she just closes her eyes or something?" Will says, placating. "It's only going to take a minute, right?"

Ari chews on her lip. It's not ideal, she'd rather not have Mearing here at all so there's no chance she accidentally sees or hears something that could potentially end up back to Galloway, but she knows Mearing isn't exactly a pushover either. Ari talked tough earlier, but Mearing could still make things difficult, for her and for all of them. She sighs. "Fine. But Phil, you make sure no report is made of this."

"You have my word," Phil says with a nod. "Now close your eyes, agent."

"I can't believe you're actually listening to her," Mearing grumbles but considering all the soldiers and Autobots surrounding her, she's realizing this is a losing battle for her.

"It's as she says. She has the authority here. Do as she says. And cover your eyes with your hands while you're at it. Can't be too careful."

Mearing looks like she wants to protest more but she doesn't, instead closing her eyes and placing her hands over them with overly exaggerated movements. "There, satisfied?"

"Hang on, hang on, I got somethin'," Rob says, pushing through the crowd holding an iPod and a pair of headphones. He steps behind Mearing and none too gently shoves the earbuds in her ears, then turns the volume up on the iPod with a shark grin. "Boom! How's that?"

Ari can hear the rap song all the way where she's standing. She can feel herself matching his grin. "Perfect, Rob. Thank you."

"Is this really necessary?" Mearing asks, practically shouting.

No one answers her but they're all thinking yes.

"Alright, now where were we?" Ari mumbles to herself, kneeling down atop Sentinel's chassis with a strange sense of deja vu from when she did this with Optimus, but at least she's basically only healing him this time, not bringing a spark back from the Well. It shouldn't be as draining.

Hopefully.

She places her hands lightly on his chassis, about to bring the AllSpark to the forefront of her mind, but gasps before she can as the AllSpark practically _pushes_ a vision at her.

It's of Sentinel, optics online, but they don't glow blue like all Autobots. They burn Decepticon red.

That can't be. Sentinel is an Autobot, everything she's seen and heard of him proves that. But that vision...she can't just ignore it either.

Her hands shake a little as she moves them away, looking up at Optimus. He looks...lost almost as he gazes down at his mentor. Like a little boy separated from his parents in the grocery store. He wants Sentinel back so much. How can she just deny him that?

"Optimus?" she asks quietly, drawing his optics to her. "I need to ask you a favor now."

"Anything," he says easily and she licks her lips nervously.

"I don't want you to tell Sentinel that I'm the AllSpark."

He blinks at her in shock. "I do not understand. Why? You have never withheld the information from an Autobot before."

"I know but I...the AllSpark just showed me something and before I understand what it means I just think it's best to keep it from him for now." Optimus looks a little hurt at her request and she adds, "Trust me? Please?"

He stares at her for a moment and then, reluctantly, nods. "Alright. I will do as you wish."

She lets out the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. "Thank you."

Turning back to Sentinel again, she closes her eyes, drawing on the power of the AllSpark deep inside her while at the same time closing off her bond to Sideswipe as much as possible until barely anything is getting through. Once she's as certain as she can be that anything she does won't affect Sides, she begins.

Electricity sparks along her arms and she directs it down, into Sentinel Prime. He seems to be mostly undamaged from the crash. He's just out of energon, like he starved himself, but he hasn't offlined like Ari always feared would happen if the Autobots ever ran out of energon here. It's like he fell into a coma. All she has to do is replenish his stores of energon, get it pumping through his body again, and then wake him up. The whole process only takes her seconds.

What no one expects is Sentinel's violent awakening.

He shoots up with a cry, dislodging Ari from on top of him. She falls backwards, arms pin-wheeling, but thankfully a hand shoots out to grab her. Sideswipe cradles her protectively to his chassis, backing away as Sentinel launches himself forward, sword drawn and fire in his optics.

His blue optics, not red.

Optimus grabs him by the shoulders, holding him back before he can hurt anyone. "Stop! Sentinel! It is I, Optimus Prime. It is alright. You are safe."

Sentinel doesn't seem to hear any of it at first, continuing to struggle and yelling in Cybertronian.

"We are home. You are home, Sentinel."

Those words seem to finally get through to him and he starts to settle, breathing heavy and looking around disoriented. "The war...the war!"

"The war was lost," Optimus tells him despondently, letting Sentinel go as he puts his sword away. "Cybertron is now but a barren wasteland. We have taken refuge here, on planet Earth. Its human race is our ally."

"My ship!" Sentinel says suddenly, his processor chasing the last memories he has. "We came under fire. The pillars." He looks around frantically. "Where are the pillars?"

"You saved five of them, including the control pillar."

"Only five? We once had hundreds!"

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Mearing says, stepping forward on the catwalk so she's gripping the railing. Slag, who let her see and hear again? "May I ask, what _is_ this technology you're looking for?"

"It is the ability to reshape the universe," Sentinel says, a glint in his eyes that reminds her of Wheeljack. "Together the pillars form a Space Bridge I designed and I alone can control it. It defies your laws of physics to transport matter through time and space."

Astonished murmurs drift through the gathered crowd, Mearing being the one to ask, "You're talking about a teleportation device, aren't you?"

"Yes," Optimus says, "for resources, for refugees. "

"Refugees," Mearing's face twists in displeasure, "or troops of soldiers, weapons, maybe bombs! A means of an instant strike! That's its military function, isn't it?"

Sentinel approaches her slowly, optics narrowed. "It is our technology and it must be returned."

"Yes. If humans say so! You can't just bring weapons of mass destruction into our atmosphere! Kind of have to clear customs first. A little formality called paperwork, kind of separates us from the animals."

"I will overlook your condescending tone if you heed the gravity of mine. The Decepticons must never know the Space Bridge is here. For in their hands, it would mean the end of your world."

* * *

Mearing leaves soon after, refusing to let the pillars out of the vault, Phil going with her. He agrees with Mearing, that they can't just give up devices like these that have such a high chance of being used as weapons. Considering they have no plans on using the pillars themselves any time in the near future and that the vault is the safest place for them right now anyway, no one argues, though Sentinel certainly isn't pleased. He's used to being the once in charge but he needs to realize that he's not the top of the totem pole on this planet, not anymore. He is a guest who must obey the rules of his hosts.

Ari wonders how hard of a lesson that'll be for him to learn.

The crowd of humans begins to disperse and the Autobots gather around Sentinel and Optimus, welcoming their old leader to their new home. Sideswipe joins them as well, Ari perched on his shoulder so she can see better. Sentinel's smile is fond as he talks with everyone.

But when his eyes land on her his smile drops a little.

"And who is this?" he asks, causing everyone to turn and look at her.

"Are we sure Mearing is gone?" Sideswipe asks, optics scanning the catwalks.

A light shines out of Ratchet's optics, quickly scanning the entire room. "Yes, I do believe she is gone."

"Awesome." Sideswipe turns to Sentinel with a wide grin, lifting a hand to curl around Ari. "This is Ari Lennox. She's the first human we ever met and...she's my sparkmate."

Sentinel looks between them like he's waiting for the butt of the joke but when no one starts laughing his smile falls the rest of the way. "You are serious."

"Yeah," Ari says with false cheer, not liking the way Sentinel is just staring at her. "Primus willing, we were even able to bond."

"How is that even possible?" he asks, sounding strangely angry. "Humans do not have the capability of creating sparkbonds. You haven't the right."

Ari bristles, not expecting she'd ever need to defend herself to an Autobot. "I have every right. Sideswipe and I are sparkmates. We are meant for each other."

"You must be wrong."

"No, it's true," Ratchet says gently, optics slightly worried. "Sideswipe and Ari formed the sparkbond over an Earth year ago and it is still strong. There's no mistake. I can show you my scans if you'd like."

"That might be necessary. Are you certain there is nothing wrong with young Sideswipe?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," Sideswipe growls, backing away from the group like a threatened animal. Or an animal about to attack. "Ari and I _are_ sparkmates. We love each other. There isn't anything wrong with that."

Sentinel shakes his head. "It is simply not natural."

Ratchet opens his mouth, probably to explain about the AllSpark, but Ari interrupts him as she glares at Sentinel, "We don't need to explain anything to you. Let's just go, Sideswipe."

Sideswipe feels strung tight like a guitar string about to snap, just itching for a fight, but she nudges at him along the bond, trying to send him soothing feelings. The last thing they need right now is to start a fight with Sentinel and Ari definitely doesn't want to see anyone getting hurt over this.

With one final growl Sideswipe turns on his wheels, taking them out of the Med Bay and towards their room.

" _Sideswipe, send a private message to all of the Autobots except for Sentinel,"_ Ari says over the bond. _"If that's the way he's going to react over us being sparkmates, then I definitely don't want to see how he'd react to me being the AllSpark."_

He's not going to be in on this secret, not until he proves himself to her.

* * *

Later that night, Ari and Sideswipe are lying in bed, sweat cooling on Ari's skin as Sideswipe's holoform wraps himself around her, like he's afraid someone will take her from him. She kisses his bare shoulder, trying to offer him as much comfort as she can, but they're both still shaken by Sentinel's denial of their bond. This is the same mech who mentored Optimus, the mech all the Autobots looked up to, and he sees their bond as unnatural.

Ari was looking forward to meeting him. He sounded like a very good mech. But now...

"Do you think he'll come around?" Ari mumbles.

"I don't know," Sideswipe says, pulling the blankets tighter around them to keep the heat in. "I didn't think he'd be so against it in the first place. I mean, we're sparkmates. We have the bond. It's not like we can mistake that or fake it. It's not like I'm going to have another sparkmate out there somewhere. This is it. This was meant to be. It's not wrong. It's _not_."

Ari levers herself up on an elbow so she can lean over him, her hair cascading around their heads like a curtain. "I know, Sides. I know. And that's all that matters. _We_ know that this is right. Sentinel's opinion doesn't matter, especially since he's the only one who thinks that way. Optimus and the others will get him to understand and then everything will be fine."

Sideswipe smiles softly, reaching a hand up to cup the side of her face. "Has my optimism rubbed off on you?"

She turns her face to kiss the palm of his hand. "It was bound to happen eventually, and at least one of us needs to be optimistic right now."

"Well, come here so I can have some of it back."

He uses his hand to lead her head down, but their lips just barely touch when another vision bursts through Ari's mind. She gasps softly, pulling away a little as she gazes upon a white-gray landscape littered with craters and covered in shadow.

The dark side of the moon.

She's not sure what she's supposed to be seeing at first, but then the image zooms in and she's able to make out little trails in the moon dust leading to a large pile of something. They look like sticks of some kind.

Or pillars. Hundreds of pillars.

"Ari?" Sideswipe says, his voice filtering through the vision. She blinks rapidly to clear the images away, focusing on his face again. "What did you see?"

"I-I saw more pillars. For the Space Bridge. There were so many."

"Well, Sentinel did mention that he used to have hundreds of them at one point. Was this back on Cybertron?"

She shakes her head. "No, Sides. It was on the _moon_. It looked like someone dragged them away from the wreckage and piled them up."

"But who would do that? We didn't even know they were up there until yesterday and they didn't see any other pillars."

That inkling of unease she was feeling earlier grows and festers into all-out dread. "That's because someone's been on the moon before us. Someone else got to the ship first."

"But who? The Russians? They did get that ship part."

"Maybe," Ari says absently, getting off of Sideswipe and plucking her phone off of the nightstand. She scrolls through her contacts, finding Mearing's number that the agent only gave her out of courtesy.

"Who are you calling?"

"Agent Mearing. There are too many pieces to the puzzle, too many gaps, and I just can't see the full picture. Mearing might be able to give us the pieces we're missing."

The thing is, she doesn't pick up.

Ari growls in frustration, trying again, and this time gets an answer on the seventh ring.

"What do you want?" Mearing snaps. "It's late, I'm tired, and I still have paperwork to get through. Make it snappy."

"I need everything you've got on the space program," Ari says, getting to the point. "There's something more going on, something else that has to do with the moon, but I don't have enough information. I need to know more."

A disbelieving laugh causes the line to distort with static a little. "You really think I'm just going to hand over classified intel to a civilian? I don't care who your adoptive father is or how big your alien friends are, it's not happening. And don't even think about going to Agent Coulson. He doesn't have the clearance."

"You don't understand, if we don't figure out what's going on before it's too late-"

"With all due respect, Ms. Lennox, I appreciate what you did, but you're not a soldier. You're a messenger. You've always been a messenger. Just let the professionals handle this."

The line goes dead and Ari has to resist the urge to throw her phone across the room.

A messenger? Agent Mearing has no idea _what_ she is.

"Let me guess," Sideswipe says, rubbing a hand along her back in an attempt to sooth her. "Mearing won't help."

"No, she won't." Ari angrily thumbs through her contacts again, looking for another name. The normal chain of command won't help her? Fine. There are ways around that. She presses the call button and holds the phone to her ear again.

The call connects and a familiar voice says, " _Kotyonok_ , to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hey, Nat," Ari says with a smile. It's been far too long since she's last seen either spy. But right now isn't about catching up. "You're not on mission, are you?"

"No, I wouldn't have answered if I was. I just got back from one, actually, but I can put off debriefing for you. How have you been?"

"Pretty good but it looks like things are about to get dicey again."

She can practically hear Natasha changing from friend to spy. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need information on the space race, particularly the missions to the moon. Anything you can find. I've already got some of the American stuff but I'm sorely lacking on the Russian side and I think they might have what we need. The Russians aren't part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the World Security Council, though, so do you think you can work your magic?"

"I have some old contacts inside the Kremlin still. I'll see what I can dig up and get back to you in the morning."

Ari sags in relief a little. Finally, what feels like real progress. "Thanks, Nat. You're the best."

"Are you going to need backup? I leave for another mission tomorrow afternoon but they can always get someone else for it and I can come to you. Clint's tied up, though. He's on mission for at least another week."

"I don't know," Ari says, trying not to let her worry show in her voice. "It's too early to tell. But I've got a bad feeling."

"Always trust your instincts, Ari. They're never wrong. If you need me, or the Avengers, we'll be there."

Ari bites her lip. "I'll keep that in mind. But what if everything happens too fast for all of you to get here?"

"Then we'll just have some real avenging to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've made Sentinel kind of mean. But, really, his outlook on humans isn't that different from the Decepticons' if he's so ready to just enslave them all. So I couldn't imagine him actually being approving of Ari and Sideswipe being sparkmates. It only added to the doubt Ari feels about Sentinel, which is really what I wanted. She needed a reason to go digging.
> 
> And it was kind of hard to keep her from just automatically jumping to figuring out that the Decepticons are behind everything. Seriously.
> 
> Next chapter is when the running begins. Ari always seems to be running, lol. A certain part is also coming up but don't worry! I saved Ironhide, just like I did Jazz.
> 
> I just realized I do that a lot with my fics, save characters I didn't want to die...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	75. The Other Shoe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is when the slag hits the fan.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

In the morning, Sentinel is gone before Ari and Sideswipe are even up. Optimus has taken him out to see the world, so to speak, or at least to explore D.C. and the surrounding area. This is his new home now. Hopefully he finds joy living here just like the other Autobots have. And hopefully seeing more of the human race will show him that they're not all that bad and he begins to like them.

Hopefully he begins to like Ari.

At least, that is her hope. She doesn't want any bad blood between them but she will defend her bond with Sideswipe tooth and nail if he continues to discriminate against it.

That has to go on the backburner, though, at least for now, because she has other things to worry about, though she tries not to. She keeps looking at her phone all morning, expecting a call from Natasha. There's no more schoolwork to keep her busy so she tries reading, but she just can't concentrate.

It's like she can almost feel the other shoe about to drop.

The call from Natasha never comes. Ari's just starting to think she got called out on her mission early when her phone vibrates with a text late in the afternoon. She looks at it and frowns. It's written in a cypher Clint taught her, but Natasha doesn't usually write her texts in code. Whatever she found out about the space program, it can't be good.

Ari dresses in comfortable clothes, jeans, a purple v-neck shirt, and her best sneakers. Ready for running or crawling or climbing. Ready to sprint through a battlefield.

Just in case.

When they make it to the diner across town Natasha is already there, sitting at a table in the corner with her back to the wall and facing the front. Ari and Sideswipe's holoform slide into the circular booth with her, heads bowed together and keeping their voices low so as not to be overheard.

"I thought you had a mission to go on?" Ari says quietly.

"I did," Natasha answers grimly, the fact that her face is so open right now proving just how not good her news is going to be. "Not anymore. Not after the things I found."

Ari gulps slightly. "And what did you find that you couldn't just tell us over the phone?"

"Enough to where I'm going to Fury right after this, but I thought you'd want to know first. And you might be able to make sense of some of it that we couldn't."

Sideswipe takes Ari's hand under the table, squeezing. "Tell us what you found."

Natasha pulls out a heavy file Ari didn't notice before, spreading out papers in front of them. "You didn't give me very specific parameters so I kind of just dug all over the place, looking for anything suspicious."

"Well, we're not entirely sure what we're looking for either," Ari says, pulling a stack of papers towards her that's paper-clipped together and leafing through them. They look to be profiles on people, each with the person's photo smiling up from the corner. They all have something in common: in each of the photos the people are wearing space suits. "Are these the astronauts' files?"

"They are. Notice anything weird about them?"

Ari continues leafing through them, brow furrowed as she uses the AllSpark to quickly take in all the information, and then her eyes widen. " _All of them_ are dead?"

"Just about. And most of them are car accidents, the astronauts dying before making it to the hospital. One or two of them I could call coincidence, but this is ninety percent of them dead, with eighty percent of _that_ being death by unnatural causes. And it's not just the astronauts. Everyone connected with the space program, even if it was just something small, they've been dropping like flies. Especially in the last two days."

Ari's eyes fly up to meet hers. "When was the first of the recent deaths?"

"Uh," Natasha shuffles the papers around, pulling one out to show them. "Here. This guy, Voshkod. He was the General Counsel with the Ukrainian Department of Energy."

Sideswipe pulls the file closer, staring at the picture intently. After a minute he taps it with his finger. "Sunny says this is the guy who took the team around Chernobyl the other day."

"So all of this started right after Chernobyl," Ari mumbles to herself, trying to make some of these pieces make sense. "Right after the engine part was discovered and we found out the ship was on the moon."

"Almost like someone is covering up loose ends," Sideswipe adds and Ari nods thoughtfully. "But why? What were they all up to?"

"There's an alien ship on the moon?" Natasha deadpans, leaning back in the booth.

"It's kind of a long story," Ari hedges, not wanting to get into all that right now, especially the stuff about Sentinel. Natasha would probably find some way to castrate him. "S.H.I.E.L.D. knows everything already. They sent Phil and Agent Mearing."

Natasha gives them a look of pity. "I do not envy you. Mearing is a woman…few people can swallow. But we will discuss this later?"

"Yeah, of course. What else did you find?"

"Well, there was this." Natasha slides another packet of papers closer to them, this one with the N.A.S.A. logo on it.

Ari skims over the papers quickly. "What's a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter?"

"Basically a space probe, sent to take pictures of the moon. I was able to find evidence that someone named Wang may have messed with the probe's coding, preventing it from mapping the far side of the moon, which is also the dark side."

"The dark side of the moon is where the ship is," Sideswipe says. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to keep the _Ark_ out of sight. Do you think Wang is the orchestrater?"

"No. He died yesterday."

Ari runs a hand roughly over her face. "And there's no evidence pointing to whoever is killing off all these people?"

Natasha shakes her head, her fingernail tapping on the tabletop the only sign of her frustration. "No, it's all done very clean, methodical. Almost like-"

"Like a machine?" Ari asks suddenly as the idea pops in her head.

"Yeah," Natasha says slowly, eyes pierced in thought. "Each of the accidents were clean of any traces that it was foul play, which is why no one put this together sooner. No fingerprints, hair, blood. Nothing."

"But of course there wouldn't be any evidence. Not if it was a Decepticon."

They sit in silence for a moment, that disturbing thought sinking in until Sideswipe gives voice to it, "So the Decepticons have been using humans to further their own plans and now that their jobs are done the Decepticons are killing them off."

"That…actually explains something else I found. It's the main reason why I'm going to Fury next." Natasha actually hesitates for a moment before spitting the rest out. "Remember how the Decepticons manufactured Ron Witwicky into Dylan Gould, the supposed son of Gregson Gould?"

Ari nods tentatively. Yeah, not forgetting that anytime soon.

"As it turns out, Gregson Gould's firm ran budget review and accounting for N.A.S.A. back in the day and it looks like he messed with the numbers to make the space program appear too expensive to continue, which is why it got shut down. Considering the rest of this, I'm thinking he did it because the Decepticons told him to."

Sideswipe tugs Ari closer, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. It reminds her to breathe and she takes in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Alright," she says, trying to get her mind to deal with one thing at a time. "So the Decepticons made Ron into Gould in order to keep the truth from being discovered and probably to help with the last finishing touches of their plan."

Now they know. Now they know the truth about Ron.

"But why did they work so hard to hide the dark side of the moon?" Sideswipe asks and bless him for being able to plow ahead while she's still stumbling. "If they knew what was up there, why bother working with humans to hide it? Why didn't they just take everything out of the _Ark_?"

"I think I might have something that could help," Natasha digs through the papers, looking for something. "I couldn't tell what it was a picture of but maybe you can. America was the first to send a man to the moon, but the U.S.S.R. was the first to send a camera. In 1959, the _Luna Three_ took pictures of the dark side of the moon and found nothing of interest. But in 1963, Luna Four saw this."

Natasha slaps a picture down in front of them depicting a scene Ari recognizes.

"That's what I saw, Sideswipe," Ari says, picking up the picture to look more closely. "That's what the AllSpark showed me. Drag marks across the moon leading to a pile of pillars."

"They're not just rocks?" Natasha asks.

"No. They're devices used to make a Space Bridge, basically a transportation portal. They were on that ship along with an Autobot, Sentinel Prime." Ari looks between the two of them, everything suddenly making sense. "Don't you see? This is what the Decepticons didn't want anyone to know about. You're right, Sideswipe, they've known the _Ark_ was there this entire time, found it decades ago, and had all of the pillars moved. And they didn't want anyone to see them doing it."

"But why would they leave Sentinel there, still online, and with five pillars, including the control pillar?" Sideswipe asks.

"Because Sentinel is the only one who knows how to use them. He invented the Space Bridge. Without him, they're just a pile of sticks. So for decades now they've had no way of using them."

Sideswipe's eyes widen in understanding. "But now they do. Because you were able to wake him up."

"Exactly. Chernobyl, Driller, the engine part, it was all a trap so that I'd bring Sentinel back online for them. Now all they have to do is take him and the five pillars back-"

"And they'll be able to teleport an entire army of Decepticons here."

"Another alien invasion," Natasha says, dark memories in her eyes. "An instantaneous attack. We'd never see it coming, would never know where they'd open the portal until it's too late. Just like New York with the Chitauri."

"Not unless we get to him first." Ari nudges Sideswipe to get out of the booth. "We need to leave, now."

"I'll tell Director Fury," Natasha says, gathering up the file. "Hopefully we'll be able to get the cavalry together in time."

"Hopefully we can get to Sentinel in time so that won't be needed."

"I've already called the others," Sideswipe says, ushering Ari towards the door. "We're not that far from him but he's by himself. Optimus and him split up for a while so he could do some exploring on his own."

"Fraggit. We need to hurry."

* * *

They meet up with Sentinel on the freeway, heading back into the heart of the city. His alt mode is a big fire truck built like a tank, probably the only vehicle large enough for the Prime to transform into that they readily had on hand. Unfortunately, it's not exactly built for speed.

Bumblebee and Mirage meet up with them not long after, having been patrolling the city when the call came in, and together the three Autobots form a line in front of Sentinel, plowing the way through traffic. It starts to get more and more congested the further into the city they get, though.

Which is why Ari isn't really surprised to see three black police sedans when she looks up in the rearview mirror. The AllSpark tries to push names at her but she shoves them aside. It doesn't matter what their names are, just that they are Decepticons and that they've come for Sentinel.

As soon as they're close the Decepticons transform into their bipedal forms, running along the street, and they look almost animalistic in form. One of them has these long tactical-like things coming out of its back and another is even running on all fours.

And they tear through traffic like animals, ripping away street signs and crumbling cars if they're in the way.

They catch up within minutes, jumping over the Autobots' alt modes to get ahead of them. Bumblebee brings out his weapons while still in alt mode, firing his blaster cannon at the one running on all fours. It's a direct hit, making the Decepticon stumble a little, but still he keeps running along. Mirage then transforms into his bipedal mode, bringing out his blades attached to long chains and flinging them at the Decepticon. The hooks of the blade catch on the 'Con's back and Mirage hangs on, planting his feet on the street and getting dragged along.

Bumblebee keeps firing while Mirage tries to hold him still and together they bring him down, his offlined body flying through the air into oncoming traffic.

It's not over yet, though. The other two are still ahead of them, flinging civilian cars full of people left and right in an effort to slow them down. The Autobots swerve, barely missing getting hit and speeding up to pull out in front of the Decepticons again, but who knows what happens to those people.

"We need to lose them, Sideswipe," Ari says urgently, looking behind them at the wreckage. "There are too many people here."

"Help is on the way," Sideswipe says through the radio. "Just a little further."

They make it into the city, trying to take more deserted streets while still heading back to base, but the Decepticons are still right behind them.

But then Ironhide's alt mode rounds a corner and Ari grins.

They make a hole for Ironhide to pass through, heading straight for the Decepticons, and Mirage fishtails in order to stay behind with him while the rest of them continue on to the base.

Without any further hindrance they make it back to N.E.S.T. within minutes, Ironhide and Mirage catching up with them just before they speed through the front gates with a mission accomplished. Ari breathes a sigh of relief as they come to a halt outside the main hanger. They made it. Hopefully now they're safe. Ari steps out of Sideswipe's alt mode and is instantly engulfed by Will in a fierce hug.

"Why am I not surprised you're right in the middle of it when the slag hits the fan?" Will says, pulling back to look her over for injuries. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Ari insists, holding up her hands to get him to stop fussing. "I'm not the one we should be worried about right now."

"We've already sent out teams searching for more Decepticons."

"That's not what I'm talking about. The 'Cons are after Sentinel. He's the key to this whole thing."

"Indeed I am," Sentinel says, him and the other four Autobots transforming around them. "What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is we were never going to win the war. For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to be made," his arm transforms into a blaster and Ari takes a startled step back, "with Megatron."

Before anyone can react he raises his blaster and fires at Ironhide, hitting him in the shoulder.

Ari's ears fill with static as Ironhide staggers back, falling to the ground with a painful cry. A hit like that won't offline him, she reminds herself, but her eyes widen when some sort of green, misty substance quickly starts to crawl across Ironhide's body. It wasn't a normal blaster round; it was filled with acid that's disintegrating though the Cybertronian metal, eating him alive.

"Buy me time!" Ari yells, darting towards Ironhide without a second thought. She hears the others, humans and Autobots, attack Sentinel in rage but she trusts them to watch her back as sparks already begin to snake along her arms.

She's not sure this will work with all the acid eating through him but she has to try. Already, his optics are dimming.

Keeping careful distance so she doesn't get any acid on herself, she flings her arms forward, sparks arcing out of her fingers and into Ironhide. They run along him, crackling angrily, and Ari smiles when the acid seems to be evaporating. As soon as all the acid is gone she concentrates on repairing the most-heavily compromised systems first, working methodically until he is whole once more.

Ironhide levers himself up on an elbow, about to say something, but then he spots something behind her and his optics go wide in horror.

She quickly turns but only glimpses Sentinel coming back out of the base before one of his large metal hands snatch her around the waist and hoists her into the air, carrying her away from Ironhide and N.E.S.T.. The fingers around her are squeezing tight, making it difficult to breathe, and so does her fear. Sideswipe can feel her panic through the bond and reaches out to her, like he's trying to physically draw her back to him through the bond. But it doesn't work like that. He can use the bond to find her, though, to rescue her, plus her pendant and anklet. They won't lose her. All she has to do is hold on.

Sentinel looks down at her as he runs from the Autobots, an odd mixture of intrigue and disgust on his face. "So it is true. The AllSpark no longer resides within the Cube but inside of a measly, fragile human."

He transforms into his alt mode in order to gain more speed, being surprisingly careful with her as he shifts her to his passenger seat. She goes for the door handle, already knowing it won't work but trying anyway in desperation. It doesn't budge, the seat belt snaking around her and clicking in place despite her struggles to force it away, pressing her back against the seat. She yanks at the belt, pushes at the release button, but neither give.

Her mind races through options, Sideswipe's presence in the back of her mind telling her that Optimus has caught up and the two of them are chasing after Sentinel. She can try to escape. Her knives will cut through this belt easy, but there's no way she's getting out of the alt mode. She's not strong enough to break the glass.

So if she can't escape, then she can at least gather information, find out what the end game is. She starts with, "How did you already know I'm the AllSpark? We never told you."

"I contacted Megatron after I separated from Optimus," Sentinel's voice spills out of the speakers. "He told me the truth that you and the others chose to keep from me."

"And shooting Ironhide, what was that, a test to make sure he wasn't lying?"

"In a way, I suppose. It is a fantastical tale, that the AllSpark would be given to a member of the human race. Why would Primus allow such a thing? You are small and fragile, like insects compared to Cybertronians. But if it was true, I knew you would not resist healing one of them. The AllSpark would not allow you to."

"I healed Ironhide because _I_ wanted to, not because I was told. I care about 'Hide too much to allow him to offline because of you." She shakes her head. "How could you? You're an Autobot, one of their greatest leaders. If you care about them at all, how could you risk offlining him just for a test?"

"Because there is much more at stake than one Autobot."

"What's at stake? Why would you team with the Decepticons?"

"For Cybertron's survival."

"But Cybertron is lost."

"No, it is _not_ ," Sentinel growls, coming to a stop in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument standing tall in the distance on the far side of the pond. "I will save Cybertron, no matter the cost. There, we were gods. And here, your kind calls us machines. So let the humans serve us or perish. The only reason you are still alive now is because you still have use."

The sun has set quickly during the drive, light just barely peeking out over the horizon, like it's afraid to witness what's to come. Sentinel transforms, not bothering to set Ari down gently, and she tumbles to the concrete with a stinging hiss. She doesn't pay attention to the scrapes on her elbows, just runs, away from Sentinel.

She doesn't get very far before another hand grabs her, pinning her to the ground lying on her back.

Megatron crouches over her and he has definitely seen better days. He's still sporting old wounds from the Battle of Egypt, including the one where Optimus took a good chunk of the top of his head off. And there are little...things, like large bugs, crawling around inside him. It almost looks like they're making repairs but it's obviously slow going. He looks beaten, torn, defeated while he's just barely begun with his latest plan.

Sentinel looks just fine, though, setting up the pillars over the pond without even so much as a glance at Megatron.

"How long I have waited for this, insect," Megatron rumbles, pointed teeth showing with his grin. His hand tightens around her, thumb at her neck and forcing her chin up as he presses his claw against the fragile skin at her jugular. "To have you in my servos at my mercy. It won't be long now, and then I will give you the most exquisite death."

"Ah, my master," Starscream says as he lands next to them, concrete cracking beneath his feet. "Such a brilliant scheme. So when Sentinel left Cybertron, it was to defect?"

"He was meant to rendezvous with me here on Earth," Megatron says, optics shining down at her in glee, "before fate waylaid us both. The only way to revive him was with this filthy little insect and the power of the AllSpark that's trapped inside of her."

"Excellent strategy. So he is now your partner, master?"

Megatron hums in satisfaction. "He is my greatest triumph."

Ari can't hold in a derisive snort. She should probably keep her mouth shut, but maybe poking the bear could turn to her advantage. "Partner? This doesn't look like a partnership to me. I mean, look at you. You're still falling apart since the last time you had your aft handed to you."

His claw presses firmer against her skin, drawing blood. "I'd watch your tongue, fleshling, before I remove it."

"Go ahead," she spits in his face. "Do your worst. But don't come crying to me when, after all of this is over, you and Sentinel don't end up partners. You'll just be his little glitch."

Megatron roars in outrage just inches in front of her face and she thinks, this is it, Megatron's finally going to end her like he's always wanted. Instead, he stands, shoving her at Starscream who takes her in his hand, a bit startled. "Relieve the fleshling of the power she never deserved," Megatron orders, walking over to the Lincoln Memorial and sitting down in the massive seat like a throne, crushing the statue of President Lincoln beneath him.

"With pleasure," Starscream snarls, taking an object out of the compartment in the side of his leg.

Ari's eyes widen and she squirms in his grip. It's the sphere Scalpel designed to steal the AllSpark energy from her, but it looks less like patched-together scraps and more like a completed device. Will it work like Scalpel intended? Will it take the AllSpark from her? Either way, this is going to hurt, just like all the other times. But her arms are pinned to her sides in his hand, keeping her from reaching her knives.

Two wires automatically extend from the smooth shell of the sphere as soon as Starscream holds it close to her, reaching for her temple. "This will hurt. A lot."

"Commencing transport," Sentinel says and she looks to her side to see electricity jumping between the four pillars, like the frame of a doorway, and an image starting to coalesce in the middle.

Everything is going wrong, all at once, and Ari closes her eyes, tears spilling out of the corners.

So this is the way the world ends?

Everything suddenly tilts sideways and her eyes fly open in surprise. Sideswipe is there, tackling Starscream to the ground, and they land with a hard jerk. Thankfully, Starscream's hand keeps her head from hitting the concrete and his grip loosens, just enough for her to wiggle an arm free. She uses her chin to press the jewel on her bracelet, extending the blade, and she shoves it into Starscream's hand. Starscream screams as she slices through something important and he lets her go, allowing her to roll away as Sideswipe and Starscream continue to grapple.

Ari gets her feet under her and stands, whirling around to look at the portal. The surface of the moon is now fully visible in the doorway.

"Stop!" Optimus yells, running towards them. "No! Sentinel, don't do this!"

"Forgive me," is all Sentinel says and then the first of the Decepticons jumps out.

Decepticons and ships pour out by the dozens just as the rest of the Autobots and N.E.S.T. pull up. The Autobots transform and everyone opens fire, but there are just too many of them.

"Retreat!" Optimus calls out. "Everyone retreat!"

A metal hand wraps around Ari again and she panics for a moment before she registers that's it's Sideswipe. He carries her away from the chaos, following after the others, and transforming into his alt mode as soon as he reaches the street. She turns in her seat, watching as Optimus fights against Sentinel only to ultimately leave with the rest of them as well, Decepticons continuing to spill into the night.

"Are you alright, Ari?" Sideswipe asks, his holoform sitting next to her in the passenger seat. She shakes her head, crawling into his lap and tucking herself against him. His arms wrap around her tightly, one hand slipping into her hair. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She shakes her head again, pressing her face into his neck. "This is all my fault."

He shushes her softly. "No, it's not. No one could have seen this coming."

"But I did. The AllSpark showed me a vision of Sentinel with red optics. I thought it was literal so when he woke up with blue optics...I thought it was something that was going to happen, that maybe the Decepticons were going to get their hands on him and do something to him so he'd help them. But it wasn't a literal vision of the future. It was a warning. And I failed to listen. I failed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, everything's going to slag. I had fun having Natasha be a part of putting the pieces together though. And Irohnide lives, yay!
> 
> But anywho, next chapter was hard for me to write, guys, and I mean that in the sense that I was making myself cry. You guys know what comes next in the movie.
> 
> The Autobots are forced to leave.
> 
> And on that lovely note, the next chapter will be up tomorrow.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	76. Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have tissues. Just saying.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

Morning breaks. No one slept during the night, even though they're all exhausted. Sleep won't come, not with the gravity of what's happened.

Everyone is in the War Room, techs set up on scaffolds typing away, trying to locate all of the Decepticons that came through the Space Bridge. They don't even have a final count yet as to how many there are. They all disappeared minutes after they came through. An odd thing to do for an invasion, but Sentinel's words keep ringing in Ari's ears.

He wants to save Cybertron. No matter the cost. But what will that mean for the Earth?

Mearing enters, walking up one of the scaffolds set up in the middle of the room, and everyone perks up, gathering around. Will, Rob, and Phil are on the scaffold already and approach her first. "Do you have news?" Phil asks, voice sounding tired but that's the only thing about him that shows his exhaustion.

Mearing, on the other hand, looks frazzled, her auburn hair escaping its ponytail leaving strands around her face. The deep bags under her eyes match her deep frown and she sighs before answering. "Over two hundred Decepticons came through the portal, our energon detectors triggering as far away as South America and China."

"Why scatter everywhere?" Will asks. "Why not just go for the immediate invasion?"

"That probably has something to do with the message Sentinel sent the Council just an hour ago." Mearing approaches one of the techs, nudging him out of the way and clicking the mouse a few times. A video comes up, Sentinel's face taking up the entire frame.

"Defenders of Earth," he says, sounding like a diplomat, not someone who kidnapped Ari just a few hours ago. "We have come for your natural resources to rebuild our damaged planet. When we have transported all we need, we will leave your world in peace. For such peace to exist, you must immediately exile the Autobot rebels you have harbored. Nonnegotiable. Renounce the rebels. We await your reply."

"That's a load of slag," Ari says in the silence that follows, her voice echoing around the room. "They're not just going to leave. Sentinel told me he'd use the humans as slaves."

"Well, the World Security Council isn't taking the chance," Mearing says, shoving her glasses further up her nose. "They've taken the deal. The vote's already carried. They've ordered the Autobots exiled from the Earth, effective immediately."

Color drains from Ari's face and her chest clenches in horror. "No! You can't do that! Let me talk to the Council. I'll convince them."

Mearing shakes her head. "It's too late. I'm sorry, Ms. Lennox. I underestimated you at every turn. If I had just listed to you and looked into the moon more like you wanted, then maybe we would have caught this before it was too late. But it is too late now. The Autobots are leaving. There's nothing you can do to convince the Council otherwise."

"But...but..." She looks up at Sideswipe, tears brimming in her eyes. "Sideswipe..."

She can't lose him. She can't.

Tears are already slipping down his faceplates and he gathers her close, turning beseeching optics to Mearing. "Please, you've got to let me stay. Just me. Please."

Mearing sighs in exasperation. "Look, I know the two of you are best buds and all that, but you need to get this through that thick metal of yours. _All_ of the Autobots are leaving the Earth. No exceptions. You either leave peacefully or S.H.I.E.L.D. will _make_ you leave. Understood?"

"We understand, Agent Mearing," Optimus says, shoulders drooped with the weight of what he's agreeing to. "We will leave peacefully."

A sob escapes Ari's chest and she wraps her arms around Sideswipe's neck, burying her face in his neck as she continues to cry.

She can't lose him. She loves him. They're sparkmates. But she doesn't have a choice.

" _There's got to be something we can do,"_ Ari says across their bond. _"Please, Sideswipe, there's got to be something. You can't just leave….I need you."_

Sideswipe slides to the floor on his knees in defeat, holding her tighter with his tears dripping into her hair. _"I know, sweetspark. I know. But I…I don't see a way out of this. Fighting to stay will just make everything worse."_

"But I can't lose you!" she wails, accidentally saying the words aloud.

"Ms. Lennox-" Mearing begins, sounding slightly contrite, but Ari cuts her off with a red-tinged glare.

"Unless the next words out of your mouth are that you're going to help us, then I suggest you _leave_ ," Ari spits out, the words sounding like venom even to her own ears, but she doesn't take them back even though Mearing isn't really the one to blame.

With a sharp tug to her suit jacket, Mearing leaves, her heels clicking away with each step she takes.

Ari turns her face back into Sideswipe's neck, wishing she could force her tears to stop because this is apparently the beginning of the last few moment's she'll have with him, but she just can't get herself to stop crying.

Sideswipe can't either, so they just cling to each other, wishing that their strength was enough to keep them together, knowing that they're going to get torn apart anyway.

"We can't let them force Sideswipe to leave," she hears Elita say. "Their bond will be stretched to the point of pain, and so soon after their bonding. Sideswipe might survive it, but will Ari?"

"I do not know," Optimus says quietly. "But what choice do we have?"

* * *

Ari and Sideswipe don't let go of each other. Not while the soldiers of N.E.S.T. say goodbye to the Autobots. Not during the flight down to Cape Canaveral. Not while the Wreckers, the Autobots who were looking after the _Xanthium_ , get the ship ready once more for one final flight. They don't let each other go until the very last minute.

Not until Mearing says it's time.

Ari has already said goodbye to the others, her tears never really stopping though the sobs have ceased. Each of them enter the ship, one by one, until it is just Sideswipe and Sunstreaker left. Ari reaches her arms out to Sunstreaker and he doesn't even complain, picking her up and bringing her close to his chassis for a hug.

"Take care of him for me," she whispers quietly. "He'll need your help to get through this."

"I've got my brother," Sunstreaker says. "But who will take care of you?"

"We'll look after the kid," Rob says down at their feet on the tarmac, Will next to him. "We'll take care of her no matter what happens."

"Even if we lose to the Decepticons and they come for her," Will adds. "They won't touch her. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Sideswipe says, taking Ari back in his arms and she curls into him. He nods to his brother. "You go ahead. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Sunstreaker nods back and then skates across the tarmac towards the awaiting ship, only looking back over his shoulder once.

Ari wraps her arms tightly around his neck. "I can't just let you go," she says, voice cracking. "I _can't_."

"You have to, sweetspark," Sideswipe says gently. "It's the only way."

"Why can't I just come with you?"

"You can't. The ship doesn't have the needed life support for a human. You wouldn't make it out of the Earth's atmosphere."

"But what will happen to you? Where will you go?"

"We'll park the ship in Earth's orbit, far enough away so the Decepticons' scanners won't pick us up but close enough to come back if we can. And hopefully…close enough so that the separation won't be so hard on us."

"I don't care about that." She breathes in the smell of metal and leather and a hint of spice that makes up Sideswipe, trying to commit it to memory. "What am I going to do without you?"

He runs his fingers through her hair soothingly. "You'll think of a way to stop the Decepticons. You always do."

"You know that's not what I meant."

He's silent for a few moments. "I know. But Ari, you've got to remember that you still have a family here. The Autobots aren't the only ones you have."

"I know," she mumbles. "But they're still not you."

He sighs deeply. "I know, sweetspark. I know." He pulls her away slightly so he can see her face, using his thumb to brush her tears away even though new ones continue to fall. "Take care of yourself, Ari, and please, _please_ , stay safe. Don't do anything rash to try and stop Sentinel. Promise me."

"I promise," she says, right before she pulls his face down so she can kiss him. A torrential wave of emotions swirls around them. Grief. Despair. Desperation. Resignation. A massive amount of guilt comes from Sideswipe and she tries to reassure him that it isn't his fault. None of it is. This is the World Security Council and they will live to regret the decision they made.

Because, truly, what are their chances without the Autobots? Ari has always said that humans would never be able to defeat the Decepticons alone. They would have failed in Mission City, they would have failed in Egypt, and they will probably fail now.

Sideswipe's reassurances surges around her, like he's trying to dispel her negative thoughts, and then there's just his overwhelming love for her. It's so big and bright and full. How is she supposed to just keep going without being able to feel it like this again? But she can't think about that right now, she's running out of time, so she sends him her love for him as well.

The two emotions coil and meld together. No matter the distance, this will never fade. They'll love each other no matter what and the bond will bring them back together. They're sparkmates. They're meant to be together.

This separation can't be forever. It _can't_.

"I love you, Ari," Sideswipe says as he pulls away, beginning to set her down. "Always."

"I love you, Sideswipe," she replies, throat constricting as the sobs threaten to come back. He sets her feet on the ground but she doesn't let him go, clinging to his hands.

"Ari, you've got to let go," he says, voice pained.

She shakes her head defiantly. "No."

For the first time she can ever remember, Sideswipe uses his considerable strength against her, forcing her to let go of him. She stumbles forward, trying to grab onto him again, but Will catches her around the waist, holding her back.

She struggles against his hold. "No…no…."

Sideswipe begins to back away, optics boring into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ari. I'm sorry."

And then he turns, heading towards the ship.

"No!" she yells after him. "Sideswipe, please, don't go!"

His hands clench at his sides but he doesn't stop, doesn't turn back.

Will and Rob have to work together to get a still struggling Ari into the waiting SUV, the first non-Autobot car she's been in for a long time and the reminder just makes everything hurt even worse. Will forces her into the middle seat in the back, he and Rob getting in on either side of her, and then the driver turns the car on, taking them to the N.A.S.A. control center a good mile away from the launch site.

As soon as they get there, Ari races through the building, disregarding the control room in favor of a deck on the top floor of the building that serves as a viewing area. She bursts through the door with a loud clang and runs towards the edge of the deck, catching herself on the railing. Her knuckles turn white as she grips the metal bars, eyes never leaving the ship.

The _Xanthium_ had a lot of pieces missing when it crash landed with Elita and the others who arrived with her. The Wreckers did a lot of work to it, using the same parts that humans use to build space shuttles. She almost can't tell that it's an alien ship from here, the orange rockets standing out brightest in the glow of dawn. She can almost pretend that most of her family isn't on that ship, that it's just a couple of human astronauts that will be back in a few weeks.

But it's not. Her heart is on that ship.

The door opens behind her, softer than when she came through, but she pays no attention to whoever joins her. She just keeps her misty eyes on that ship.

The engines turn on, the roaring of the fires muted from here even though they must sound as loud as a tornado from over there. The ship begins to lift into the air, leaving a trail of smoke in it's wake, and Ari watches as it get further and further away.

Every second takes Sideswipe further and further away and she can feel the bond growing tighter and tighter with it.

"What the Pit is that?" Rob asks, coming to stand beside her with his face tilted to the sky.

Ari follows his line of sight, brow furrowed, but then she sees it, too, an object moving at incredible speed right towards the ship.

She only has a split second to send Sideswipe her alarm before the object, a missile, hits its target and the ship explodes in a fiery burst.

She stares wide-eyed as pieces of the ship fall to the earth like confetti, her brain stalling for a moment trying to reconcile the fact that the ship the Autobots were on, that Sideswipe was on, is now nothing more than ashes and scorched metal.

None of them could have survived that. None of them.

Ari falls to her knees with an indistinguishable cry, her voice carrying long and far across the tarmac without anywhere to go.

He's gone. Her husband, her sparkmate, her lover, her friend. He's gone.

"SIDESWIPE!" she calls out in her despair, her heart breaking into fiery pieces inside her chest like the ship, feeling like her chest can't contain the burning of her grief.

Arms snake around her from behind, holding her to a firm chest, and she struggles at first until she hears Will's soothing voice in her ear. "It's okay You're okay. Stay with me, Ari."

"No!" she screams, trying to get up, to run after Sideswipe, to search for him, but Will won't let her stand. "No, he can't be gone! He can't be!"

"He's gone, baby. He's gone. But you've got to stay with me, okay? Don't you leave, too."

She doesn't understand why his voice sounds so scared, the worst thing imaginable has already happened, but then she realizes. She's Sideswipe's sparkmate, and one usually doesn't survive without the other. It's not something she's ever been worried about before, Sideswipe dying before her. Will is scared that she's about to die, too.

But she isn't. The pain in her chest feels more than she can bare but it's just emotions. It's normal. Not the pain of losing a bond, of a piece of herself getting torn away.

Rational thought starts to trickle in and Ari quiets her sobs so she can concentrate, focusing inward on her bond, following the line that leads from her heart to Sideswipe's spark.

The line is still there. The bond, it's still intact. And Sideswipe is still on the other end of it, alive and whole.

Happiness bursts through her as she reaches out to him along the bond, only to be barred. She stills, shocked and hurt. He's closed himself off from her. She's getting almost nothing from him, so little that she didn't even realize he was still there until she paid attention. Why would he do that? He just survived getting blown up and she witnessed it. Why isn't he trying to reassure her that he's okay?

Unless all is not as it seems.

Anger takes the place of her grief and she sits up straight on her own, pushing against Will's shoulders. "He's still alive," she says, dark and low, almost too low for anyone else to hear.

"Ari," Will says, eyes full of pity. "He's not coming back. He's gone."

"No, he's not." Ari gets to her feet, storming to the door leading back inside with a purpose.

"Ari, where are you going?" Rob asks, he and Will jogging after her.

The door opens before Ari can get to it, Mearing stepping through with her lips pressed thin. "Ms. Lennox-"

She doesn't get a chance to say anymore, not before Ari clocks her square in the jaw with her fist. Mearing staggers back, mouth open in shock and hand held to her face. "How _dare_ you-"

"That was my husband, you fragging glitch," Ari growls through clenched teeth, pushing past the agent before she can recover. "We're going back to N.E.S.T., _now_."

* * *

They head back to base in the quinjet Mearing took to get to Florida, not bothering with the big carrier plane since they have no Autobots to transport. The quinjet is a lot faster and Ari has a lot to do before she can carry out the plan half-formed in her head.

The Autobots have a plan, obviously. They have this entire time, or else Sideswipe would have either offlined when the ship exploded or reassured her that he survived through their bond. Instead, he survives and then closes her off so that the only thing she can sense from him is that he's alive and okay. She can't feel what he's thinking or feeling.

She can also tell that he's still on Earth. So either they expected to get blown out of the sky, most likely by the Decepticons, or they never intended on leaving Earth in the first place.

So he lied to her. All of them did.

Which she would normally be able to overlook. They could have not told her so that Mearing and S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't find out that they were disobeying orders. But then she would have thought that Sideswipe, again, would have reassured her that everything was okay and would try to contact her so that she and N.E.S.T. could meet up with them.

Nope. No contact. No reaching out to her through the bond.

So he's hiding something, probably trying to leave her behind while he and the Autobots go after Sentinel.

No way is she letting that happen. And no way is she letting that go so easily. They will be having _words_ when she finds him.

But at least he's alive, a part of herself says.

Yeah, alive so she can kill him.

As soon as they make it back to base, Ari locks herself in her room, letting everyone think she just wants some alone time to grieve. When really she's suiting up.

Clint and Natasha were both on mission last Christmas so they had to exchange presents when they came back, allowing them to do it on the sly without anyone else finding out what they gave her. Probably intentional, considering what they gave her. Will would have a heart attack if he saw.

From Clint, she received a tactical uniform, but not like the ones N.E.S.T. have. No, this one is specially designed by the scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D. and fitted just for her. It's not a catsuit, thank Primus. He knows her better than that. But it is formfitting without being restricting. It almost reminds her of Clint's outfit, pants and a shirt that zippens up the middle made out of black leather with silver and blue accents, but her sleeves go all the way down to the wrists and her pants aren't bulky with all of his pockets. The material is light and airy, so it's not suffocatingly hot, but if she had to guess it's still bulletproof despite appearances. To make up for the lack of pockets, there's a tactical belt with compartments that she clips around her waist.

Natasha gave her accessories. There's a thigh holster for her new glock, built with a handprint scanner in the grip so only she can use it. There's a garrote, a high-powered tazer, and also several knives that go into her belt. She also slips in some extra mags for her gun and a couple of grenades. Some of it might be useless for going up against Decepticons but she'd rather be safe than sorry, especially if there are anymore humans working with the 'Cons still.

Ari laces up her combat boots, slips on her bracelets, and makes sure her pendant is around her neck tucked beneath her shirt. She hasn't tried contacting them. N.E.S.T. is tuned to those frequencies and could find out what she's up to. Plus, she doesn't want any of the Autobots to try to talk her out of going. Pulling her hair up into a high ponytail, she looks at herself in the vanity mirror.

She looks like a badaft. And ready to go.

With a deep breath, she slips off the end table where the human-sized pieces of the bedroom sit and opens the door as quietly as possible in order to slip out.

Only to find Rob standing there with arms crossed and a disapproving scowl.

Her jaw clenches defiantly. "You can't stop me, Rob. I'm going after them."

"What, alone?" he says, voice tense. "You really think you can make it through all them Decepticons alone? Do you even know where to go?"

"I'll figure it out. I always do."

"I have no doubt about that." He shakes his head. "The Decepticons are in Chicago. They've locked down the entire city so that's _all_ we know. They're not letting anyone in or out, not even our surveillance drones. We're not sure what they're up to but it can't be anything good. And without any solid intel of what's going on, S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't letting us go in. Especially after the last fighter jets got shot out of the sky."

She looks him over warily, noticing for the first time that Rob is dressed in tactical gear as well. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because I know better than to try and talk you out of it, stubborn kid. So if I can't stop you I might as well go with you."

Ari's shoulders ease and her eyes soften in gratitude. "You don't have to do this, Rob."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I do. I made Sideswipe a promise and I plan on keeping it."

"What about my dad?"

"Oh, he knows we're going. He's not happy about it but," Rob hesitates, trying to find the right words, "he understands why you have to do it. And so do I."

She steps up to Rob and wraps her arms around him in a hug, one he instantly returns. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He pulls back after a moment, leading her down the hall. "Now come on, we've got a stop to make before we get out of here."

He leads her towards the far end of the hall of Autobot dormitories, to the one Ironhide and Chromia share. He pushes the door open and ushers her inside, closing the door softly behind them. Inside stands Evie, John, Trent, Amole, Landers, Newton, and Hunter, all of them decked out in combat gear and ready to fight.

"I figured we'd need all the help we can get," Rob says, "so I tapped a few shoulders I knew might be crazy enough to follow you."

They make up nine in all, including Ari and Rob. Nine people against who knows how many Decepticons. It sounds insane when she think about it like that, but they're still doing this. She takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I know this isn't what you all signed up for. We're asking a lot of you. The order right now is not to go in because the city is heavily fortified and there's no clear way in. We'll be outnumbered, outgunned, and without backup. At least...mostly. I have it on good authority that the Autobots are still here and still alive. They'll probably be going after Sentinel as well, but there's no guarantee we'll be able to meet up with them. So if any of you have second thoughts, I'll understand."

John grins, big and wide. "Come on, Ari, you should know us better than that by now."

"There's no way we're letting you face this alone," Evie continues. "Especially since we know you'll try."

"And it's not like this isn't what we signed up for," Trent says, stuffing his hands in his pockets with a shrug. "We joined N.E.S.T. to protect the world from the Decepticons and that's what this is."

"This will be more dangerous than any other mission you've ever been on," Ari warns. "This mission will determine the fate of the world. And there is a very, _very_ good chance we won't all make it back alive."

Newton snorts, holding up his favorite weapon, a rocket launcher, to his shoulder. "Bring it."

Everyone else nods along and Ari smiles. "Alright. So how are we getting out of here?"

"Mearing's still hanging around somewhere," Rob says, going to the door and opening it a crack to peek out. "Will and Phil are keeping an eye on her so we shouldn't have too much trouble getting out of here. She's getting together all of the 'specialists' for a confab or whatever. They're trying to figure out what the 'Cons are up to, blocking off an entire city like that, but it's all a waste of time if you ask me."

"You got that right," Ari says following Rob out the door and down the hallway, everyone else following behind her two by two. "The only way to find out is to actually get in there. But you said all their air attempts were shot down?"

"Yeah. That's why I'm thinking we go in from the ground. Not as fast but we'll have more cover by cutting through the buildings."

"So we're going by car?" Landers asks.

"It's the only option we have left. There's just one problem. All our vehicles have trackers on them. Mearing will know as soon as we leave and she'll probably send people after us."

"Can we disable them?" Hunter asks.

"Yeah, but it'll take time."

They jog through the base without any trouble since Mearing is the only one interested in stopping them. Everyone else nods or tells them good luck. The encouragement is nice, bolsters their spirits, even though the odds are stacked so high against them. When they make it to the hanger, though, they pause.

There are three black S.U.V.s parked in the hanger doorway, each car with a suited S.H.I.E.L.D. agent standing in front of it.

"We caught before we even make it out?" John mumbles quietly

Ari holds up her hand, signaling them to wait as she steps forward. One of the agents steps forward as well, approaching her without a word and handing her a phone. She shoots him a questioning look but he says nothing, so she presses the phone to her ear and says, "Hello?"

"Hello, _kotyonok_ ," Natasha says, a mischievous smile in her voice.

"Natasha? What's going on?"

"I figured you could use a fast ride to Chicago, one that no one at S.H.I.E.L.D. or N.E.S.T. will be able to track."

"How did you-"

"Oh, please, _kotyonok_ , I know you. Even with Sideswipe's death holding you down, you're not going to let them get away with this."

Ari swallows past the lump in her throat. "He's not dead, Nat. I don't know what they did, but he's alive and I think the others are, too. He's keeping me out of the loop though."

Funny enough, she doesn't sound surprised at the news. "Well, you can't let him get away with that. I sure don't let Clint. But Ari," Natasha's voice suddenly goes very serious, "I have to tell you, help isn't coming. Dr. Banner is M.I.A.. Thor is off-world. Steve and Clint are both on mission, though Steve is at least on his way back. He won't get here any time soon, though. Clint's mission is under dark protocol, no communications. He probably doesn't even know what happened. Tony was on vacation with Pepper a half-world away when the portal was opened and I know for a fact he's on his way back right now itching for a fight, but even his fastest suite can't get him all the way back to the U.S. on a full charge and his jet will get him here even later than Steve."

"What about you?"

"They've grounded me," she says, sounding almost petulant. "They won't let me go, not without the rest of the Avengers with me, but those of us available won't be all together for at least another twenty hours. These cars are the only help I can give you."

Ari sighs tiredly, nodding to herself. "That's alright. I'm not sure what help a vibranium shield would be anyway, even if it is made out of the strongest metal in the world."

"I'm sorry. I promised you we'd be there."

"You can still be there. If we fail-"

"You won't fail," Natasha says fiercely. "You come out of this alive, _sestrenka_. That's an order."

 _Sestrenka_. Little sister.

Ari wishes she could promise Natasha that she's coming back, that everything's going to be fine, but they both know a promise like that would just be empty. But an order Ari can do. Although she's never been very good at following orders. "I'll do my best, _sestra_."

She's long since considered Natasha a sister to her. It's nice to finally say it, here at what could very well be the end of all things.

"Good luck," Natasha says and then the line cuts out.

Ari hands the phone back to the agent and then turns to face her rag-tag team of heroes. "Alright, guys. Let's roll out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...sad...
> 
> And Sideswipe is being an idiot.
> 
> And more changes! Rob is still with us, obviously, cause I didn't want him to leave. Seriously, he's not allowed to go anywhere. And the old recruits are the team that goes with her. That was always my plan, ever since I started adding more OCs.
> 
> And sorry, no Avengers. Things would be over too soon if they got involved. 
> 
> Next chapter the Battle of Chicago begins!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	77. Seeing the Full Picture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow I'll be posting the rest of the chapters and finishing this fic. It's been a crazy ride.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

They make it to the outskirts of the city just before noon and get their first good look at what has become of Chicago.

It reminds Ari so much of Mission City that a shiver runs down her spine, and yet it is so, so much worse. They can hear blaster fire and screaming, even though they've stopped at least a mile outside the city. Rubble litters the ground everywhere, buildings crumbled to pieces. A train is derailed, sprawled across the tracks and the road that runs beside it. People are screaming, running in the opposite direction they're headed.

And, perched on the sides of the skyscrapers along the edges of the city, are Decepticon ships acting as patrols.

Two ships detach from one of the buildings and Ari tenses, thinking they've been spotted, but when the ships open fire they're not aiming at the ground. They're aiming into thin air. Except they hit something, fiery explosions blooming on impact. There's a distortion in the air, like a computer glitch, and then a quinjet blinks into view, on fire and smoking, rapidly falling to the ground. It crashes to the ground somewhere out of sight and the Decepticon ships return to their perches.

Ari and the others step out of their cars, guns small in their hands compared to those of their enemies', and feel helpless for the first time.

Except for Ari. She slams her car door shut and starts walking, preferring to make the approach on foot so as to attract less attention.

"Are you really going in there?" Amole calls after her and she stops, turning to see that no one is following her.

"Yes, I am," she says simply.

"You're crazy," Hunter says, shaking his head with wide eyes staring where the quinjet crashed. "Those things took down a fragging quinjet. There's no way I'm going in there."

"None of us are going in there," Newton says, already starting to get back in his car. "We'd never make it."

"I said none of you had to come with me," Ari says, trying to be understanding and not feel the sting of disappointment. "You can leave if you're too scared, but I'm going. With or without you."

"How are you _not_ scared," Trent sputters. "Are you insane? You're just going to get yourself killed."

Ari laughs emptily. "Scared? I'm fragging _terrified_. But you know what I'm more afraid of? What will happen if we do nothing. There are no Avengers to come and save the day. They won't make it here in time. There's just us. If we don't do this, then the Decepticons win. They'll enslave us all. You say you joined N.E.S.T. so that you can protect the world. This is how we do it. We stand and we fight. Sentinel and the 'Cons are about to cross a line. We need to make sure they don't, even if all we can do is buy time until the cavalry comes. Even if we die trying. Because this is it, guys. This is humanity's final stand."

"Ari's right," Rob says, moving to stand beside her and clapping a hand on her shoulder. "We're all anybody's got right now. If we give up, we'll be giving up on the entire world. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to do that."

Before anyone can say anything a small, one-person Deception ship rounds the corner down the street, opening fire on them with a machine gun. Everyone ducks, running the other way, only for two more Decepticons to show up on foot in front of them, cutting them off.

Ari pulls out her gun and shoots in one fluid motion, just like Ironhide showed her. She takes out the optics of one Decepticon, causing him to cry out and flail into the other one, knocking them both to the ground.

She's not going down without a fight.

The Decepticon ship begins firing again and Ari ducks behind a large piece of concrete, the others taking cover around her. The other Decepticons are beginning to get up and she grits her teeth, unable to see a way out of this that doesn't end up with at least one of them shot.

And then she feels a spike of fear, big and hot and not her own.

She takes in a sharp gasp as the bond suddenly opens up to her again, Sideswipe's presence almost overwhelming inside her head but she doesn't have time to sift through the emotions before he's launching himself over a fallen building, blades _shinging_ through the air and slicing into the closest Decepticon.

She visibly slouches in relief at the sight of him. There's believing something to be true and then there's actually witnessing it. She didn't realize just how much she needed to see him again until this moment.

Doesn't mean she still isn't going to yell at him though.

The rest of the Autobots jump into the fray, dropping down from nearby buildings or coming out from behind rubble where they had been hiding. Quickly, the rest of the Decepticons are taken care of, the ship now just a hunk of smoking metal.

The Autobots gather around and the soldiers come out of hiding, many of them smiling in relief. "So you really are all alive," Rob says as Optimus kneels down in front of them.

"Indeed we are," Optimus says. "We needed your leaders to understand that the Decepticons will never leave your planet alone. And we needed them to believe we had gone. For today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them."

"But your ship blew up," Ari says, needing to understand.

The Wreckers snort in unison. "The ship," Roadbuster says with a roll of his optics. "We were never in the ship! We designed the slagging thing, didn't we?"

"We were hidden in the first booster rocket to separate," Leadfoot explains. "Splashed down back in the Atlantic, just as planned. We ain't going nowhere."

"So there was a plan this entire time," Ari says, hands on her hips and some of that anger she's been repressing bubbling to the surface. "Why didn't you let the rest of us in on it?"

"They've surrounded the city to make a fortress," Optimus says carefully, like he's navigating a minefield. Good. Someone in this crowd needs to be understanding of how fragging pissed she is. "They do not want anyone to see what they're up to inside. Our only chance is the element of surprise and considering the recent discovery of the Decepticons' use of humans, we decided it was best no one knew so it would not somehow get back to the Decepticons."

"But what about me, huh?" Her eyes turn to Sideswipe and he's smart enough to cringe in fear. "You couldn't have told me? You couldn't have let me know you were okay?" She stomps over to him until she is right at his feet but he won't meet her gaze. "I thought you were dead, Sideswipe! And then when I realized you were okay I realized you cut back on the bond so much that I could barely feel you. Why, Sideswipe? Why not let me know you were alright? Why not tell me where you went so I could meet up with you?"

He opens his mouth to respond but she cuts him off.

"No," she snaps, pointing a finger up at him. "What did we agree on?"

He sighs in frustration, transforming down into his alt mode and turning his holoform on a few feet in front of her, arms crossed in front of his chest. "That when we fight, it's on even ground."

She nods tersely. "Thank you."

Having him tower over her isn't always the greatest, especially when they're arguing. Thankfully, they don't argue too often because the bond makes clear communication really easy. However, this time, he purposefully cut her off and lied to her, things he promised he'd never do.

"So?" she prompts.

His jaw clenches and she knows he's going to be stubborn about this. "I had to protect you! The 'Cons had taken you, _again_ , and even though I managed to rescue you they're still going to be after you because of the AllSpark. The safest place for you is far away from here, Ari. I didn't want you getting caught up in all of this again."

"And what about what I want, huh? Did you ever think of that? Did you ever think of how I would feel, seeing you die in front of my eyes, realize you were still alive, and then not be able to touch you through the bond, all in the span of five minutes?" She steps close to him, practically chest to chest as she glares up at him. He's still a good head taller than her, even in holoform, and somehow that makes her even angrier. "It fragging _hurt_ , Sideswipe!"

"I had to keep you safe! I knew you'd just want to come with and I couldn't risk putting you in danger again."

"Well, I'm still here, Sides. Keeping me in the dark didn't do squat."

"And you shouldn't be here! You should go back to base right now."

"That's not how this works!" She practically screams, her voice echoing off of the concrete. "I am your _wife_ and your _sparkmate_. For better or worse, Sideswipe. That means we do this together, not you make my decisions for me. I promised I would fight with you, by your side, and that's what I plan on doing. That's why I went through N.E.S.T. training. I'm not some scared little girl anymore, I'm not just going to run and hide while you do all the fighting. I want to stand by your side. I want to watch your back and make sure _no one_ takes you from me."

He cups her face in his hands, his own face contorted like she's physically hurt him. "I can't lose you, Ari. I _can't_. The thought of you out here in the middle of all of this…it terrifies me."

"I know, Sides," she says softly, placing her hands on his wrists and stroking with her thumbs. "I know. But don't you think I'm scared, too? I don't like you out here either. That's why I want to go with you. I'll watch your back, you watch mine. We'll keep each other safe. That's what Chromia and Ironhide do, that's what Elita and Optimus do. That's what couples _do_ , Sideswipe. When you kept me out of the loop, when you made this decision for me, I felt like you weren't treating me like your partner. You know I can handle this so _trust me to_."

He brushes a loose strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Guilt permeates the bond, stronger than before he got in the ship. "I-I'm sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I do trust you, it's just…you're so small and fragile. I could so easily lose you. It makes it easy to forget just how strong you really are."

"It's okay, Sides." She lifts up on her toes and kisses him softly, pushing her forgiveness towards him. "Just please don't do push me out like that again."

"I won't," he says, full of sincerity, and pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her. "I promise."

She hooks her arms around his shoulders and finally feels herself settle, relaxing for the first time since she saw the ship explode. "So we'll do this together?"

He takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out slowly. "Yeah. We'll do this together."

"Awesome," Sunstreaker drawls, looking down at them like's he's about to roll his optics. "Great. So, if you two are done now, can we get going? You know, before we find out if any Decepticons heard your yelling match."

"But where do we go?" Jazz asks. "Does anyone even know where in the city Sentinel and Megatron are? We don't even know what they're plannin'."

"No," Ari admits, ignoring Sideswipe's little disapproving glare. "We didn't really plan that far ahead. But since you're here, I have a plan now." She looks up at Wheeljack with a little trepidation but she knows she has to do this. There's no one better to ask than the one person who's been in the Decepticons' back pocket for a long time now. "Wheeljack, I need you to track down Ron. It's time to pay the old man a visit."

* * *

Using security footage, Wheeljack finds where Ron is hiding out in just a few seconds. He's in the penthouse of some high-end hotel just a few blocks from where they are so they start huffing it, keeping a keen eye and optic out for any Decepticons. It's quiet, though. No one knows they're here yet, apparently those Decepticons didn't even call in that Ari and the team were trying to sneak into the city, but it won't stay quiet for long. The further into the city they go, the more Decepticons they'll probably run into.

But first, a pit stop for some intel so they know exactly what they're walking into.

They stop across the street from the hotel, the Autobots hiding behind the buildings while the humans duck inside a shoe store, peeking between the blinds in order to scope the place out.

There don't appear to be any Decepticons guarding the place but that doesn't mean they aren't close by, or even inside.

"So, what's the plan?" Trent asks and everyone looks to Ari, even Rob.

She almost blushes at that because she's never been team leader before, not even during any of the end-of-the-world missions, but they want her to be now. It's humbling and terrifying all at the same time.

"Right," she says, licking her lips nervously, "well, according to Wheeljack, we've got three options for getting into the penthouse: the main elevator, the main staircase, and an emergency staircase on the opposite side of the building. We need to make sure he doesn't see us coming, so the elevator is out."

Landers groans. "But that's forty stories."

"I know," Ari says apologetically, "but he's definitely going to try to run if he gets the chance. That's why I also think we should split up. One team takes the main stairs and the other the emergency stairs. Come at him from both sides and cut him off from escape."

"What about the Autobots?" Amole asks. "The only way they can come is in holoform and we don't have any weapons for them."

"No, but the Autobots are still excellent at hand-to-hand in holoform which could come in handy if we run into any unexpected trouble. At the very least, we'll be able to stay in contact better if they come."

"Alright, the plan sounds solid," Rob says, looking down at her with no small amount of pride. "Let's do this."

Half the Autobots stay outside to keep a lookout and distract any Decepticons who happen to find them while the other half split up between the two teams. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, the triplets, Amole, Trent, John, and Evie go with Ari taking the front staircase while the others go with Rob who go in through the back.

Ari and her team enter the lobby through a revolving door and it's eerily quiet. If there are any staff or guests still in the building they must be hiding in the upper rooms because the place has an abandoned feeling to it. Luggage has been dropped haphazardly all over the floor, papers are scattered about, and the computers at the front desk are still turned on like someone was just in the middle of working on something before suddenly leaving. It sets the team on edge and they keep moving, Ari taking point as they bypass the bank of elevators and enter the stairwell.

Sunstreaker looks up the center of the stairs cautiously. "It looks clear," he whispers, just loud enough for them to hear so his words won't carry upward. "Though that probably doesn't mean anything."

"Alright, guys, keep it tight and stay alert," Ari orders, her gun held ready as she begins the climb. "John, you take the rear."

"Got it," John says and they head up in single file, keeping their steps light.

It's a long way to the penthouse and they're winded by the end of it. They lean against the wall just two landings down from the penthouse, catching their breaths before the assault.

"Who's…bright idea…was this?" John asks, doubled over with his hands on his knees and breathing heavy.

"Hey, we could have taken the elevator," Sunstreaker says, all of the holoforms unfairly fine compared to the rest of them, "but with our luck, they probably would have noticed and then cut the cables."

John swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. "Yeah, okay. Stairs is better."

"The others are in position," Arcee says. "Ready when you are."

"Alright," Ari says, righting herself and taking point again. "Let's do this. Tell the others to move in."

She can feel Sideswipe right behind her as she approaches the door, ready to watch her back just like they promised. Her hand is shaky as she reaches out for the handle and his hand comes down on her shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze. She takes in a deep breath, forcing her hands to steady themselves, and then slowly turns the handle.

It's quiet. Thankfully, the door is, too. Doesn't make so much as a squeak. Guess they keep their hinges well-oiled in a hotel like this, but it just makes Ari wonder when they're luck is going to run out. That's when it would have in a horror movie. It's only a matter of time.

She grips her gun tighter, moving into the empty hallway and careful to make sure her boots don't squeak on the shiny tile floor. There's only one door in the small hall, more of an entryway than a hall really, and Ari stops beside it, Trent taking the other side. They all line up, ready to breach the room. She gives a swift nod to Trent and he steps in front of the door, kicking it in with his gun held ready.

They follow Trent in and everything happens fast after that, so fast that she doesn't really take in what the room looks like, just searches out hostiles. There's one suited man in the living room that the door opens into, standing from the couch in surprise with his hand going into his suit for a gun. Trent is faster though, shooting him with a rapid burst of his assault rifle. Another man comes out of a side room and Ari turns her gun on him, just one precise bullet to the head and he's down.

She doesn't think about anything, doesn't think about the lives they're taking, just focuses on how these people were compliant enough to allow aliens to take over an entire city and they stand in her way of stopping any more deaths.

More shooting comes from further into the apartment, Rob's team engaging, and Ari continues forward with Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Trent by her side, the others sweeping the front of the apartment for more hostiles. They go down a corridor into a kitchen, two women who look to be maids based on their uniforms cowering near a kitchen island. Ari ignores them, assuming them to be innocents at the moment as her eyes scan the rest of the room. Two more bodies are on the floor thanks to the other team and Rob has his gun trained on a third, the man's hands raised and his back to her.

"Clear," Evie says, coming back with the others from the front of the apartment. A round of voices echo hers as the apartment is cleared of hostiles and then they all stand around the one left standing.

Ari's legs feel surprisingly steady as she moves to stand next to Rob facing the man, her gun held tightly in her hand at her side. She stares him down, jaw clenched and waiting for the fear to come but it doesn't this time. This time she isn't strapped to the table. She's not defenseless. And she's definitely not alone.

There's nothing to be afraid of as she stands in front of Ron. And even if she was initially afraid, looking at him now, her fear would have dissipated anyway.

He's in a crisp, expensive suit and his hair is perfectly combed in place, just like the last time she saw him, but the rest of him doesn't look put together at all. He's lost weight, like a _lot_ of weight, enough to where those manufactured cheek bones the 'Cons gave him to change his appearance a bit are jutting out slightly, his cheeks shallow. The suit hangs loosely from his shoulders. Dark circles are under bloodshot eyes and when he looks at her it's with none of the hatred she once saw.

This is a defeated man. A broken man. One who's been used and knows he's about to be thrown away.

"You look like slag," she tells him, not really knowing what else to say. She wasn't expecting any of this. She thought he'd be haughty with victory. Instead, she wonders what the Decepticons are doing still keeping him around.

"I didn't ask your opinion," Ron says as he lowers his hands, nowhere near as much venom in his voice as there once was. "So, are you going to shoot me or what?"

"Tell me what I want to know and I won't."

He chuckles with an almost hysterical edge to it. "And what do you plan on doing? You think you can stop them?"

"I'm willing to try. It's better than what you've been doing. Seriously, what were you hoping to accomplish by helping them? I can understand why they'd use you, just to mess with me, but what's in it for you?"

"Nothing," he says, his face oddly…forlorn. Like a dog denied his favorite chew toy. "In the beginning, they promised me you, but even that they plan on taking away. Their name is appropriate. They truly have perfected the art of deception."

The sound of shinging metal makes them turn, just in time to see a fancy CD player that was embedded into the wall transform into the vulture-like Decepticon known as Lazerbeak. The Decepticon squawks, swooping towards Ari, but Sideswipe steps in the way and grabs him by his clawed feet. Sideswipe spins with the momentum and flings Lazerbeak across the kitchen, the bird landing hard on the island.

Lazerbeak flaps around, getting to his feet, and screeches, "Secure the AllSpark. Eliminate the rest."

All around the kitchen appliances transform into Decepticons, all of them small and animal-like in nature. There are growls and caws and snarls as they stalk closer, making the humans and holoforms back away.

"Any ideas?" Landers asks, all of their guns held ready.

"Yeah, fire," Ari says and she pulls the trigger aiming for the nearest Decepticon, catching the wolf-like bot in the head. Everyone fires with her, each aimed at a different 'Con, but there are just so many of them. When they start to get too close the holoforms engage, grappling the Decepticons to the ground away from the immediate line of fire.

Something tackles Ari from the side and she falls to the ground, ending up on her back with Lazerbeak on her chest, talons digging into her clothes but appearing not to tear. She brings her gun up only for Lazerbeak to bat her arm away with a wing, causing her gun to go flying across the floor.

And then something metal and sharp bursts through Lazerbeak's chest from behind, a fire poker from the looks of it, and Lazerbeak stills with a choked-off squawk.

Ron steps closer, ripping the fire poker out of the Decepticon with vicious pleasure as he whispers, "No more."

"I…agree…," Lazerbeak replies as his optics begin to dim. Suddenly, his long bladed tail lashes out, spearing Ron in the chest with a sickening squelch.

Ari gasps, eyes wide, as they both fall to the floor.

She gets to her knees and crawls to the man who was once her father, Lazerbeak offlined next to him with dark optics. Blood is spilling out of his chest and pooling beneath him, creating an ever-growing puddle on the white tile.

Her hands hover over him, unsure what to do yet knowing there is nothing she _can_ do.

"Why?" she asks, her voice oddly tight for the man who has caused her nothing but pain.

But he saved her.

"They were…going to kill you," he chokes out, blood bubbling past his lips. "They said they would…drain you and then…kill you. I never…wanted that."

That is true. He's done a lot of terrible, horrible things to her, but he's never wanted her dead. He just wanted her to himself, something the Decepticons would never allow.

Ron suddenly grabs onto her wrist and she pats herself on the back for only flinching a little, his grip surprisingly strong since the light is fading from his eyes. Sideswipe approaches with a growl but Ari holds up her free hand, telling him to wait. Ron takes in several deep breaths, mustering the strength to talk again. "You need…to stop them. They plan…."

His eyes are starting to roll back in his head and she shakes his shoulder, trying to keep him awake. "The plan, what's their plan?"

"C…Cybertron…they're bringing it…here."

"What's he mean, they're bringing Cybertron here?" Rob asks nervously but she ignores the question for now.

"Where are they?" Ari asks urgently. "Where are Sentinel and Megatron? Where did they take the control pillar?"

"T…." Ron's breathing is getting labored and shaky, a wet sound rattling in his chest. "Tele…scope. Telescope."

"What? What telescope?"

But it's too late. His grip on her loosens entirely and his chest stops moving, unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling.

Ari just sits there for a moment, staring at this man who used to terrify her, who's haunted her worst nightmares and has been the cause of some of the worst experiences of her life. And now he's dead. One of her greatest fears is now gone forever.

But he was also her father. And in his final moments, he actually, for the very first time, _acted_ like a father should. It may have been for selfish reasons but he sacrificed himself. For her.

"Ari?" Sideswipe says, voice small, hesitant, and she finally looks up at him. He looks concerned, his brow furrowed and a line creased between his eyes. "Are you okay."

"I…I don't know," she says, allowing him to help her to her feet. His arm goes around her waist and she leans into him, giving him some of her weight. "I…I don't know how to…he just…."

"It's okay, sweetspark, it's okay." He draws her out of the room and she finally notices that the fighting has stopped, all of the Decepticons lying in bits and pieces on the floor, but there aren't any humans so she's going to assume for the time being that her team is okay. She lets Sideswipe pull her into the living room, sitting her down on the couch that probably costs more than Sideswipe did when she first bought him. Her eyes instantly go to the windows, staring out at the broken and hurting city.

Ron is dead. She hates him, she's always hated him, and yet…he's given them a chance.

"Here," Sunstreaker says, holding out a glass of water to her, but she doesn't pay attention, doesn't even look up at him.

She's fixed on the telescope standing in front of the windows, sunlight glinting off of the golden alloy.

"That's it," she says, getting up abruptly and crossing to the telescope in three quick strides. It's already pointed somewhere out into the city and she leans her head down to the eyepiece, careful not to jostle it.

And through the telescope she can see Sentinel and Megatron sitting atop a white building across town, the control pill set up underneath the small dome on top while the four other pillars are each set up on one of the lower corners of the roof.

"There!" she says, gesturing for the others to come see. "There they are, on the top of that building."

"Well, I'll be slagged," Rob says as he takes a look. "Looks like he was keeping an eye on them. What building is that?"

Ratchet steps forward to take a look. "It appears to be the offices of Hotchkiss Gould Investments."

Well, that shouldn't be surprising.

"But what did the rest of it mean?" Evie asks, a nervous twitch to her fingers as they tap against her thigh. "What did he mean by them bringing Cybertron here?"

"I think he meant in the literal sense," Ari says grimly, setting aside the fact that Ron is dead right now. She'll deal with that later. Right now, she needs to focus on putting the rest of the pieces to this puzzle together. She turns to Optimus. "Sentinel said he had hundreds of pillars for the Space Bridge. If he used all of them, all at once, could they be used to transport, say, an entire planet?"

Optimus's eyes widen. "Yes. Yes, they could. They could transport Cybertron into Earth's atmosphere."

"And then they'll be able to take the natural resource they really want," Ari continues. "Humans. They don't plan on leaving Earth at all. They're going to enslave the human race and force us to rebuild Cybertron for them."

"What would something like that even do to our planet?" Landers asks, barely controlled fear bleeding into her words. "The opposing gravitational forces could end up tearing both planets apart."

"It won't be long until the Space Bridge is operational," Optimus says, staring out over the city. "We must move quickly, before it is too late."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD! THE WICKED WITCH, HE IS DEAD!
> 
> *cough* Sorry, but I've been wanting to kill that fragger off for a long time now. Yes, Ron is dead but at least he got to redeem himself a little bit in the end. Doesn't mean I, or Ari, like him now though. He got what he deserved.
> 
> But Ari and Sideswipe are back together now, she got to yell at him, and everyone knows exactly what Sentinel is planning now. Time to go save the day.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	78. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, guys, this is the beginning of the final stretch.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

When they get back to ground level and regroup with the Autobots, something down the street catches Ari's eye. At first, she thinks it's a bit of plane, but she can see two wings and a tail and it doesn't look like it's been torn off of something larger. That's when she realizes that it's not a plane, it's some sort of drone. She approaches it, some exposed wires sparking slightly, but there's a red light blinking on a big round ball that looks to house a camera.

"Hey, Rob!" Ari calls out over her shoulder and Rob comes over, crouching down in front of the tech curiously. "What is this? Is it us?"

"Looks like a military U.A.V.," Rob says, wiping dust away from the protective glass in front of the camera lens. "Hunter, check and see if it's still working."

Hunter circles around the back of it, looking it over. "Yeah, it's still got power."

"That means it's still transmitting," Ari says with a hopeful smile, kneeling down in the rubble and looking into the camera. "Do you think someone can see us?"

"Can you rotate?" Rob asks the machine, speaking loudly so his voice has a better chance of getting picked up by the mic. "Can you do something?"

Ari holds her breath, waiting for something, anything, and then the camera rotates up and down on its axis, like it's nodding.

"Okay, okay! They can see us!"

Ari and Rob share a grin, her cheeks hurting with it. Finally, some good news. And then she sobers, staring at the camera seriously. "Chicago is ground zero, do you understand?" she asks. "Can you hear us?"

It nods again.

"Alright. Awesome. Listen fast, guys. Sentinel Prime is here and he has the pillars to the Space Bridge. They're right on top of a building on Chicago River owned by Hotchkiss Gould Investments. The control pillar is in the southeast cupola. You've got to destroy the pillar. You have to shoot it down or they're going to transport Cybertron here, do you understand? They're transporting the entire planet here." She pauses for a moment, wondering who it is exactly she's talking to, if it's someone from N.E.S.T. or some other branch of the military. She bites her lip and decides to just go for it. "Dad, if you're seeing this, you've got to find a way to send the cavalry. The Autobots are back with us, I was right that they weren't dead, but we need all the help we can get. Please hurry."

With a deep breath, she stands, turning away from the drone. There's nothing more they can do.

"We need to move before the fighters spot us," Optimus says, optics looking up at the sky in search of ships. "Wait here until we scout a route ahead. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, you stay and protect the humans. The rest of you, let's roll."

Optimus and the rest of the Autobots transform into their alt modes, driving off down the street while Sides and Sunny stay in their bipedal modes with Ari and everyone else. They move off to an alley, just to be as hidden as possible, and Rob pulls out a map of Chicago.

"How far away are we from the building?" Ari asks, looking at the map over his shoulder.

"About eight blocks," Rob says dismally. "Long way to go and a whole lot of bad guys between here and there."

"But we can't just count on the others finding some way to take out the pillars themselves. They've already tried a lot of different ways of getting into the city and they all failed. We need to try to do it ourselves."

"Well, then we got to get closer in order to take the shot."

"Not closer," Amole says, standing a couple stories up on a nearby fire escape in order to get a better vantage point. "Higher. All we need is a clear line of sight for the rocket launcher to work."

"And we only got one shot," Hunter says, shouldering the rocket launcher.

"One shot?" Newton says, hitting Hunter on the shoulder. "Why did you only bring one rocket?"

Hunter scowls at him. "You try carrying this heavy thing around with things shooting at you. Besides, it was hard enough sneaking off base with the whole launcher, let alone the rockets."

"It doesn't matter, guys," Ari interrupts. "One is all we'll need."

A heavy boom in the near distance makes them all look towards the mouth of the alley, inevitable dread settling around them.

"We need to move," Sunny says, a fair amount of urgency in his voice as his blades unsheathe from his forearms. "That was Driller. He found Optimus and cut him off from his weapons trailer. He wants us to meet back up with the others so we can come up with a plan."

"Alright, let's move out," Rob says, taking point out of the alley. "Stay together and stay alert."

They run down the deserted street, tensed and ready for a fight, but the fight never comes. They make it to the abandoned church a block away without running into any Decepticons, the Autobots already gathered in the wide open sanctuary waiting for them.

They see Shockwave just around the corner as they go in though.

"That is one scary-aft Decepticon," Rob mutters and Ari can't help but agree, what with his big, single optic and insect-like mouth.

"They got my trailer," Optimus rumbles in frustration. "I need that flight tech. Shockwave can't hunt all of us at once. Wreckers, we need a diversion."

Topspin, Roadbuster, and Leadfoot grin enthusiastically and then head out the back of the church to get into position.

"And what of the rest of you?" Optimus asks, kneeling down in front of Ari. "Do you have a plan?"

"We do. We need to get to that building." Ari points out one of the wide windows towards a large skyscraper that towers over all the rest. It looks slightly crooked but it's tall enough to suit their purposes, giving them a clear line of sight across the river. "We're going to climb high enough then shoot down the control pillar with the rocket launcher. Can you cover us?"

"We will get you there," Optimus says as he stands. "You have my word. Autobots, roll out!"

* * *

They get to the building with little trouble, the Autobots drawing the Decepticons' fire easily, allowing Ari and her team to slip through the city effortlessly with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker acting as their guards. Ari pauses outside the building while the others go inside, Sideswipe kneeling in front of her with Sunstreaker at his back.

"You need to go help the others, guys," Ari says, addressing the both of them.

"No," Sideswipe refuses, reaching out a hand to draw her to him but she backs away before he can.

"You have to. You can't come with us."

"My holoform can."

"But that leaves your alt mode too vulnerable. _Do not_ risk yourself like that, Sideswipe. I mean it."

"Sunstreaker-"

"Is not going to be able to protect you if you get surrounded. You'd both be sitting ducks."

"She's right, Sides," Sunstreaker says, optics scanning the streets and only darting over to them briefly. "There's nothing we can do here."

Sideswipe's face hardens, like he wants to argue, but she cups his cheek with her hand giving him a soft smile. _"I'll be okay, Sideswipe. I promise."_

 _"You better be,"_ he says, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and then he and Sunny transform into their alt modes, speeding off down the street. She watches them until they turn a corner and then she turns her eyes to the building in front of her.

Alright. Fingers crossed that this works.

She joins the others inside, finding them waiting for her at the entrance to the stairwell since the power seems to be out. Because of course it is.

"Are all of the end of the world battles like this?" Trent asks as they begin to spiral upwards.

"Yeah," she admits, thinking back to Mission City when she had to climb to the top of that building in an attempt to hand off the AllSpark. "There's not always stairs but there's definitely a lot of running. At least we're not running through sand this time. That was hard."

The stairs may be worse though. Even with her enhancements, she's sweating through her uniform.

Several stories later, Ari bursts through a door onto the main floor to see how high they are. This floor is some kind of office area, with cubicles and desks spread out in a wide open area and pillars supporting the floor above. Windows circle the entire floor, giving them a good view of the city, and she can see the right building from here.

"Alright, this is high enough," she says, waving for the others to follow her. "Newton, set up over here."

They run towards one of the many broken windows on this floor, one with a straight line of sight to the building they need. Newton carefully balances the rocket launcher in one hand as he digs the rocket out of his pack with the other.

But before he can get the launcher loaded, the building begins to shake.

"What was that?" Evie asks nervously.

Rob carefully leans out of the window, looking down. "They're shooting at the building!" he yells, quickly backing away from the ledge. "The Decepticons are shooting at the fragging building!"

The building suddenly tilts up and they stumble backwards, struggling to keep their footing. Ari grabs onto one of the many pillars, holding on for dear life, but then the building becomes still again.

They breathe a collective sigh of relief. It looks like it stopped.

"Incoming, incoming!" Landers yells, two Decepticon ships coming up to the windows of their floor. Everyone quickly hides, Ari ducking behind the pillar she was holding onto with her heart in her throat as she barely peeks out.

She tells herself she's never going to make a promise about her personal safety ever again. All she ever seems to do is jinx herself.

One of the ships moves on, checking the other floors, but one of them stays, hovering closer to the windows. The cockpit opens up and the Decepticon jumps out, bursting through the glass and using the momentum to go into a roll.

She ducks her head back behind the pillar. The 'Con has a very, very big gun as he searches across the floor, vocal processor letting out a rumbling growl.

Rob is hiding behind a desk near her and she looks over at him, running out of ideas. This Decepticon is going to find them eventually. They can't just sit here. Rob holds up a finger, patting down his tactical vest looking for something, and then pulls out a grenade.

She grins, pulling out one of her own from a compartment on her belt. Rob silently counts to three and then they both pull the pins on their grenades and toss them towards the Decepticon.

"Go, go!" Rob yells and then they're all running in the opposite direction uphill, laying down cover fire as they go. The grenades explode behind them, the Decepticon letting out a painful yowl, but there's no time to check and see if he's still online because they've run out of floor.

 _"Ari?"_ Sideswipe says over the bond. _"What's going on?"_

 _"Not right now, dear, trying not to die,"_ she says without really thinking and then she closes off the bond so that he can't get too much from her.

Because most likely, this next part is going to hurt.

With nowhere left to go, they jump. Right out the window.

For just a second, it feels like Ari's flying. There's nothing above her, no floor below her, just her and the air. And then she's falling, landing on the tilted side of the building with a hard thump. A scream threatens to tear itself out of her throat as she and the others fall down the side of the building, just enough of a tilt to it to make a ramp, but they still are going down, down, down, the end of the section of building where it's broken in half coming closer and closer with each passing second and they have no way to stop.

"Shoot out the glass!" someone yells, she's not sure who, but there aren't many other options. She draws her glock, firing at the glass in front of her. It shatters after two shots and she falls through it in a sudden drop that puts her heart in her stomach. They land on the floor of another office space, uphill and downhill now switched. They fall backwards, spinning around on the tiled floor and reaching out to the office furniture, pillars, wires, anything that will stop their descent. Ari grabs a pillar by her fingers, stopping abruptly and wrenching her shoulder painfully. Evie falls past her and she reaches out, grabbing Evie by the scruff of her vest.

Using the strength the AllSpark gave her, she hoists Evie up so she can grab onto the pillar. Evie gets her upper body up and then pulls herself up to straddle the pillar, grabbing onto Ari to help her up as well.

"You okay?" Ari asks, breathing heavy and rubbing her sore shoulder.

"Yeah," Evie says, also breathless. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem." She looks around, seeing most of the team has stopped their descents one way or another, but there's still yelling so she looks down. Rob and Hunter are still falling, getting dangerously close to the windows on the far side. There's nothing below to catch them this time. If they fall, there's only the ground below them, very far down.

"Rob!" she calls out, eyes wide with panic, but there's nothing she can do but watch as the man who is like an uncle to her continues to fall.

Hunter falls out first, arms flailing but failing to grab anything and he plummets out of sight, his cries getting further and further away.

With a desperate yell, Rob reaches out and grabs onto a bunch of wires at the last second, bringing himself to a yanking halt with one leg hanging out.

"Is everyone okay?" Rob calls out.

"Yeah," Ari yells back and then says with a normal volume, "mostly."

Rob looks out down below and then he says with a strange tone to his voice, "Hey, this evil thing is looking at me."

Ari rolls her eyes. "That describes a lot of things. Be more specific."

"It's got an even uglier Decepticon with it!" Rob yells instead. "We need to evac, now!"

Amole gets his feet mostly under him, leaning to keep himself upright on the slanted floor, but his boots keep him from slipping. He makes his way for the stairwell, trying the door, but it doesn't budge. "No good. Something's blocking it from the other side."

The building begins rumbling again, harder this time, and Ari takes that to mean they only have minutes left.

"Come on, guys!" Newton yells, all of them starting to get frantic. "How are we getting out of here?"

Ari looks around, searching for options, but coming up empty. There are no stairs. No way to repel down. Nothing. They're trapped.

The building gives a sudden lurch and then they're falling again. Ari hangs on tightly to her pillar but it's the entire building falling this time, breaking in half.

They all scream unashamedly. Ari can feel Sideswipe's panic, burning inside her like a wildfire, but there's nothing she can do, nothing either of them can do.

And then it stops, the building jerking with a loud scraping sound like it's stuck on something. Ari looks down out the windows to see the outside wall of the neighboring building and she laughs a bit hysterically. They're caught on another building, wedged in place. They're okay.

"Come on, guys, there's a fire escape right over there," Rob says, motioning for them to come down. "It's close enough to jump."

One by one they slide down, Rob catching them before they fall, and then they jump across to the fire escape of the next building that's right below them. Rob jumps down last and Ari catches him, pulling him into a hug.

"Thought I was going to lose you there for a second," she says, voice muffled by his vest.

He chuckles, holding her close. "You ain't losing me yet, kid. Who else is gonna look after yah?"

There's an explosion before she can reply and they all look down to see Driller, wrapped around the middle of the building they were just in, trying to bring it down, and Optimus, decked out in his flight gear and shooting at the worm-like Decepticon. Optimus flies up into the air, shooting at the building to blast himself a hole, and then he dives in, flying through the building. He comes out on the other side, sword drawn, and slices clean through Driller's head, the body going limp and falling to the ground in a heap.

Shockwave fires at Optimus angrily in retaliation for the death of his pet, making him crash into a far building out of sight.

After a moment of tense silence Ari says, "Let's get going. Optimus is probably fine and we still have a mission to complete."

"But what now?" John asks. "We still have the rocket launcher but, what, are we just going to try another building and hope it goes better?"

Ari gives him a withering look. "How about we just start with getting on the ground again. I have a scared sparkmate to reassure."

If he doesn't kill her himself, that is.

* * *

They make it back to the ground, the nice, solid, not collapsing ground, and take a moment to catch their breaths and their bearings. Looking up at the half-collapsed building, it's hard to believe that they were actually in that, that they _survived_ being in that, but then Ari remembers that not all of them made it out and steals a glance at Newton.

Hunter had been one of his closest friends, possibly his only one since Ferrel died. And now Hunter is gone, too, because Ari dragged him into this. She dragged all of them into this when none of them have a place being here. Bile burns at the back of her throat as she looks over the rest of her team. Bruised. Battered. Tired when they're not even close to completing this mission and they're barely clinging onto the hope that they even _will_ complete this mission.

She should have come without them, should have brushed Rob off and come here alone like she originally planned. But there's no going back now so she just straightens her shoulders again and continues to lead them, praying that she isn't leading them all to their deaths.

When the air fills with a pulsing hum and they look up into the sky to see dozens of pillars slowly float up into the sky, getting further and further out into the atmosphere until they become specks and then disappear, Ari loses a bit of hope herself.

"What is that?" Landers asks, all their heads craned back to watch.

"It's the pillars," Ari answers softly. "The Decepticons are launching them into the upper atmosphere. As soon as they're in place Sentinel will be able to activate the Space Bridge and bring Cybertron here."

"Then we better get moving," Rob says, squeezing her shoulder as he passes. "Still got a long way to go before we get to that building."

Ari's mouth quirks up in a small smile. Well, at least they haven't lost all hope yet. Not enough to give up. They can't _afford_ to give up.

They snake through alleyways through another block until they make it to the street again. As soon as they step out on the asphalt blaster fire clips the building above them, raining rubble on their heads. They duck, scattering for cover as Decepticons jump down from a rooftop across the street, and they are very, very outnumbered.

"Run for it!" Ari yells, knowing they don't stand a chance and not willing to risk it, to risk them. She leads them down the street a little and then back into the alleys, the street and buildings exploding behind them. She darts around corners, weaving between streets and alleys, trying to take a serpentine path in order to lose the Decepticons. Eventually the blaster fire stops.

But so does the sound of running feet behind her.

She crouches by an abandoned bus in the street and looks over her shoulder.

"Slaggit," she curses under her breath. She'd been so concerned with getting them away from the Decepticons that she didn't make sure not to lose the team as well. She waits a minute, hoping they're just a little fallen behind, but none of them appear around the corner. She lost them.

And now she's completely alone.

The roar of jet engines blisters through the sky and she looks up, hoping to see some friendlies.

Instead, she gets Starscream, dropping down in front of her with a heavy thud and a sadistic smile.

"What a treat," Starscream croons. "You and me, alone."

Ari runs as he lashes out, his hand hitting the bus right where she once was, sending the large vehicle spinning front over rear in the air. It comes down right in front of her with a crash, landing upside down with all the windows breaking. She slips inside through the open back door, looking for cover but this isn't going to do her much good. Crouched down, she quietly makes her way to the front of the vehicle and steps out the far side through the shattered windshield, careful not to crunch the glass.

"I thought I was wanted alive?" Ari calls out, staying low and hidden behind the bus. She needs a plan but there really aren't many options. Her little gun isn't going to cut it against Starscream and there's no telling if the team will be able to find her. She's not sure where Sideswipe is but he feels too far away to offer much help, though he is still making his way towards her.

"We do need you alive, insect," Starscream sneers, feet stomping closer to her. "But no one said you can't be in pieces."

There's a loud buzzing sound and Ari moves, rolling away from the bus just before Starscream brings a saw down on it, cutting it in two. She ducks behind a dumpster. She can't just keep going from one hiding spot to the next. She needs to face him.

So that's what she'll do.

She activates her bracelets on both wrists, the blades shooting out with sharp _shings_. Her hands fist at her sides and she closes her eyes, taking a deep, centering breath.

And then she attacks.

She runs, but not away from him. This time she runs towards Starscream, catching him by surprise. She ducks between his spread legs, slicing a blade into one ankle and severing the energon tube just like she's practiced with Wheeljack.

Starscream howls in pain, spinning around on his one good leg while dragging the other and reaching out a hand in an attempt to grab her. She dodges right, moving forward and jabbing out one of his optics. He howls again, blindly lashing out a hand, but she ducks down between his legs again and gets behind him. Before he can round on her again she aims a blade for the same leg she hit earlier, this time severing the line at the back of his knee and making the entire leg completely useless. He wobbles a little, almost falling as he shifts all of his weight to his right leg.

When he turns to glare at her with his one, blazing red optic, she knows she's in trouble.

"Come here, insect!" he says, raising an arm and shooting at her. She turns to run but it's not a blaster like she thought it was, it's some kind of grappling hook, and it catches her right in the back. She cries out, the claws of the hook slicing right through her uniform and into her skin, digging in deep for a good hold.

She looks over her shoulder, Starscream's optic gleaming with glee, and he pulls back on the cord.

She screams as she's flung into the air, Starscream happily whipping her all around until he slams her into a wall. All the breath leaves her lungs and she knows if it weren't for the AllSpark she would have broken something. He yanks her out of the indent in the brick her body made and flings her again, this time into the dumpster. She takes the momentary pause to reach back behind her, trying to catch the chord with her blade, but the angle is awkward and she can't quite get it.

"Ari!" a familiar voice yells and her head snaps up to see Will, dressed in tactical gear and a full N.E.S.T. team right behind him. His eyes are widened in fear as he takes her in.

"Dad, help!" she cries and then she's in the air again, heading right for a window. She tucks herself as small as possible right before impact, glass shattering around her and slicing up her hands covering her head. She lands on the floor with a bump, screaming telling her that the building isn't empty of civilians. She looks around, barely taking in that she appears to have landed in the second story of a laundromat, and then scrambles to her feet, facing the window.

This is probably a bad idea, she thinks to herself. But oh well.

She launches herself out the window, landing right on Starscream's head.

He lets out a startled squawk, trying to pull her off, but before he can she jabs her blade into his other optic, making him completely blind.

She falls to the ground again as Starscream claws at his face with his hands, like all he has to do is clear the dust from them and then he'll be able to see again. Will runs up to her, hands feeling along the claw on her back, but then Starscream is moving again, his jets making him jump up into the air as he becomes more and more frantic. Ari gets dragged along with him and because Will is holding onto her, so does he.

They fly up through the air as Starscream jerks around left and right, wailing about his optics, and Ari and Will just yelling in general.

"Get it off, get it off!" Ari cries, still trying to reach the chord attaching her to Starscream.

"I'm trying!" Will grits out, finally giving up on getting the claw itself out and pulling out a knife. In one swift movement he cuts through the chord, severing them from Starscream.

While in midair.

They fall, Ari grabbing onto Starscream's back on the way down and clinging to him like a monkey to its momma's back. She climbs up closer to his neck, fingers gripping the metal of his armor desperately as his panic makes him bang his head against the ground. Pulling back her arm, she sticks her blade into the gap in the armor at the base of his neck, twisting until it catches, and then yanking, feeling the knife cut through the main energon artery. Energon gushes out as Starscream screeches and she lets herself fall, rolling away as Starscream thuds to the ground in a heap, offline.

Everything is still for a moment, Ari and Will breathing hard.

She cringes as she rolls to her side, pain blossoming across her back from the hook still embedded in her back.

Will scrambles over to her, running a soothing hand over her head. "It's okay, baby, I've got you. I'm going to pull it out, okay? It's gonna hurt."

Ari clenches her teeth, digging a hand into his vest at his side. "Just do it."

Without further warning Will yanks out the hook, fresh pain making Ari cry out despite her efforts not to. Will tosses the offending weapon aside and then unzippens the shirt of her uniform, carefully pulling it off of one shoulder so he can get a better look. Her fingers dig harder into his vest as he pulls aside the tank top she was wearing underneath, blood making it stick to her skin.

"How…How bad is it?" she gasps out, eyes shut tight.

"Pretty bad if you were, you know, normal." Someone tosses him a med kit and he starts pulling supplies out. He's trying to act nonchalant, like it's no big deal, but she can hear his voice shaking a little. "For you, it's not so bad. The bleeding will probably stop in about ten minutes and you'll be completely healed in just a couple hours."

"So no stitches?"

"Nah." He presses a couple bandages to the holes the hook probably made, making her breathe in a hiss, and he tapes them in place. "There. Right as rain."

Will helps her back into her clothes, zipping her up, and then starts putting supplies away. Ari notices his hands are shaking and she sits up, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck. He instantly drops what he's doing and returns the hug, holding her carefully because of her back.

"I'm okay, Dad," she whispers into her shoulder. "I'm okay."

"I know," he says, still unsteady. "I know you are, it's just, when I saw you getting tossed around, for just a second...I thought you were..."

She squeezes him tighter. "But I'm not and I'm okay."

"Right. Yeah." He pulls back, giving her a brief smile, and then continues packing up the medkit. "So, where are the Autobots? And Rob and the others?"

"The Autobots split up with us so that they could cover while we got away from Decepticons earlier. As for Rob...," she cringes a little, "I kind of got separated from them just before Starscream found me."

Will tosses the kit back to the soldier who gave it to him with a little more force than necessary. "I'm gonna kill him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Will. He doesn't like it when Ari scares him like that. And Rob is in trouble lol.
> 
> This chapter was fragging hard to write. Hopefully I did it okay though.
> 
> Next chapter will be up in a few minutes. Remember, we're finishing today. There will be three chapters total today.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	79. Time to End This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is technically the end of the movie. Go through a lot of stuff here, including something you've all been waiting for.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy!

They have no way to track down where Rob's team went. They were headed closer to the building where the pillars are set up last Ari was with them, so she and Will's team head in that direction with the hope of running into the others along the way.

They make it to the Chicago River, jogging along a lower sidewalk that runs parallel to it below the main street. In both directions, all the bridges are up, probably the work of the Decepticons, so they just go towards the closest one. As they're climbing up the stairs to make it back up to street level, the hairs on the back of Ari's neck raise on end.

She stops and turns, allowing the other soldiers to pass her as she searches for the eyes watching them.

The water ripples and then as soundlessly as ghosts, men step out of the river in scuba gear and guns. She recognizes the patches on their fatigues and grins.

"Hey, Dad," she calls over her shoulder. "We've got SEALs."

Will makes his way back down the stairs, eyes brightened with the first spark of true hope Ari has seen since she's entered the city. "It's a good day, boys. What do you got?"

The leader of the team steps forward, taking off his scuba mask. "We've got a ten-man unit, sir, tasked with vectoring Tomahawks."

"How long?"

"Fifteen."

Fifteen. Fifteen minutes until they have some heavy-duty missiles that can pack a real punch to the Decepticons. But they still need to get across the bridge in order to set the targets.

They continue back up the stairs with their new allies, going for the control tower for the bridge. They're just starting to pick the lock when Rob and his team show up, Rob looking insanely relieved when he sets eyes on her.

"Primus, Ari," he sighs, enveloping her in a massive hug. "Where the Pit did you go? You were there one minute, gone the next. I thought a 'Con got you."

"Starscream certainly tried," Ari says, sinking into the embrace despite the twinging in her back, "but he failed for the last time."

"Seriously? You offlined Starscream?"

"Yeah. He won't be bothering us anymore."

"That's awesome." He pulls back with a smile that quickly falls when he sees Will who is giving him a pretty heavy stink eye. "Will, man, I'm sorry, I-"

"I tell you to take good care of my kid and you lose her?" Will says, sounding a lot angrier than she thought he would but considering how he found her, well, the anger might actually be well-placed.

She doesn't hear the rest of the conversation, though. Her bond with Sideswipe gives a powerful tug, seeped in worry and fear. Ari tunes everything else out, closing her eyes to concentrate on the bond.

" _Sideswipe?"_ she asks, trying to control her own fear. The only times she's ever felt him this scared before was when she was in danger. _"What's going on?"_

" _It's not good, Ari,"_ he says, none of his cocky self present. _"I think we might be in real trouble this time."_

" _I can feel you close by."_ She pulls out her gun, continuing the rest of the way up to the street. _"I'm coming, Sides. Just hang on."_

"Ari," John calls after her, the rest of the team jogging to catch up. "Where are you going?"

"Sideswipe needs me. I'm going to help him."

"Not by yourself, you're not," Trent says, a familiar stubborn set to his shoulders. "We're coming with you."

"No, you need to stay with the others. Get across the river and to the pillars. Take them out."

"They can do that without us. Right now, our friends need our help."

"Fine," she says, not really having the time to argue. "Come on. This way."

She can feel Sideswipe just around the corner of the next building. The others line up behind her and they approach the corner slowly, guns drawn. She peeks out and what she sees makes her blood run cold.

In the middle of the next intersection five Decepticons have Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack captured, forced to their knees with their hands held behind their heads. One of the Decepticons is antsy, pacing back and forth with his arm transformed into a blaster.

Ari ducks back behind the corner, heart in her throat as she tries to push down the panic. They have Sideswipe. They have him and they're going to kill him. They're going to take him from her.

"Ari, what's going on?" Evie asks but she can't answer. Her mouth suddenly feels like sandpaper.

John sneaks his head around the corner, his mouth hanging open at what he sees. "Uh, guys, it looks like the 'Cons are about to execute Wheeljack. They're going to offline all of them."

A low rumble fills the air as one of the larger ships flies by overhead, but it doesn't drown out the ringing in her hears. They're going to kill him. Whatever happened to taking prisoners?

Blaster fire makes Ari jump, piercing through her growing panic.

They're going to kill him.

No. She won't let them.

She turns to Newton, letting her single-minded determination take the forefront of her mind. "Give me the rocket launcher."

"What, why?" Newton asks, tightening his grip on the weapon. "I thought we still needed this."

"We're not going to be able to take the pillar out from a distance like we originally planned. We're going to get closer and at that range a rocket launcher won't be necessary. Any of the Autobots could take it out with their blaster, so _give me the rocket launcher so I can save my sparkmate_!"

He hands it over without another word, placing the rocket in her hand as well.

She loads the weapon with practiced ease, remembering when Ironhide taught her how to use it. That had been a fun day. They blew things up for hours, soot getting in Ari's hair. She's not shooting at old rusted cars with bullseyes painted on the sides of them now though. She turns her aim up, for the large ship that is now directly over the group of Cybertronians.

Spreading her legs into a solid stance, she pulls the trigger, carefully braced for the kickback as the rocket is launched through the air. The projectile hits its mark with a massive boom, the ship tilting off balance dangerously. It knocks into the building next to it, several smaller explosions going off inside the ship in a chain reaction that means she must have hit something important. Pieces of ship and building break apart and fall to the ground, raining down on the heads of the Cybertronians.

A large piece catches the shoulder of the Decepticon standing at Sideswipe's back and he takes the chance, rounding on the Decepticon and shoving his blade through the bot's chassis.

"Fire, fire!" Ari yells and the team engages, shooting at the 'Cons a careful distance away while the ship continues to break apart. While dangerous, the crashing ship provides excellent cover, the Autobots using the distraction to break away from the Decepticons who hold them and attacking.

By the time the ship is a smoldering pile of parts in the middle of the street, it's over, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Bumblebee standing victorious over the fallen Decepticons.

Ari darts forward, tripping and scrambling over rubble in her haste to get to Sideswipe. He goes right for her as well, scooping her up as soon as she's close enough and holding her close.

"Are you okay?" Ari asks, reaching for him through the bond to make sure herself. "Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, no, I'm okay," Sideswipe says, enveloping her in reassurance. "It…it was close, but I'm okay."

She wraps her arms around his neck, holding on tight. "I told you I'd have your back."

"Yeah. Yeah, you did. But what about you? I felt your pain earlier."

"I'm fine. It's already almost fully healed."

He looks down at her, worry in his optics, and she can tell he's holding himself back from checking her over from head to toe right now. But he doesn't do it, just holds her close, hand in her hair and entwined together through their bond.

For one moment the world fades and it's just her and Sideswipe. There's no fighting, there's no danger. There's nowhere they need to run. Both of them are safe.

But then the sky flashes bright blue and they look up to see a beam of light shooting up into the sky from the tower Sentinel has set up the pillars.

"It's started," Ari says. "He's activated the pillars. He's bringing Cybertron here."

"Then we better hurry," Sideswipe says, placing her on the ground again. "The tower's not that far away. We can still stop them if we hurry."

"Wait!" she says before the team can move out, picking her way through the rubble over to Wheeljack, lying on his back with dim optics.

"Ari, bringing a spark back from the Well really drains you," Bumblebee says, optics flitting between them in uncertainty. But also in hope. "Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"I'm not leaving him behind," she says stubbornly. "Besides, I'm stronger than I was when I did this with Optimus. I'll be fine."

She closes her eyes, retreating to the place in her mind that houses the many doors the AllSpark has made. One door stands taller than all the rest, the one specially made by the Matrix. The one that leads to the Well of Sparks.

The door opens at the slightest touch and a massive amount of energy spills forth, taking her breath away. All those lives, all those sparks, in one place filled with the essence of who they are who they were, and who they will become. Each of them have a different voice, whispering to her, but the voices of the recently departed are louder with the memories of the lives they had just been taken from.

She can see the Decepticons and quickly passes over them. There's nothing she can do for them, nothing she _wants_ to do for them, and it is not in Primus's will in any case. But then she finds Wheeljack's spark and takes a hold of it, sighing in relief when she is allowed to bring it out past the door.

Her arms begin to spark and she places her hands on Wheeljack's body, drawing his spark through her and back into the spark chamber, healing any damage as she goes. When it is finished she lets out a slow breath, the sparks fading and closing the door shut again.

Her eyes open and she meets Wheeljack's blue optics, confusion racing across his faceplates. "I dare say, I do believe I was offlined, chaps. Or do I remember that part wrong?"

"No, you remember right, 'Jack," Bumblebee says as he helps the older mech to his feet. "Ari was able to bring you back."

Wheeljack gives her a small smile, still visibly shaken. "You have my thanks, Ari."

"No problem, Wheeljack," Ari says with a careless shrug. "There was no way I was just going to leave you here."

"You guys ready for the last lap?" Sunstreaker asks, jerking his head towards the tower.

She nods, feeling not too drained at all, not enough to stop her anyway. "Yeah, let's go."

It's time to end this.

* * *

By the time they make it to the street right in front of the building lit up by the pillars, the fight has already made it ahead of them. Human soldiers are on the ground and shooting from nearby buildings, more humans than what she saw when she left Will and Rob earlier so it looks like they found more allies along the way. Good. They're going to need all the help they can get, but at least it looks like all of the Autobots have made it here as well, everyone except Optimus that is.

She bites her lip, peering out of the window of Sideswipe's alt mode. Where is he?

Sideswipe and the others charge right through the battlefield, the humans held safely in their alt modes as they try to get as close to the building as possible. A Decepticon finally notices them making a run for it when they're about halfway there, taking a shot at them. Sideswipe swerves, barely dodging the blast and coming to a halt. Ari and her team get out, the four Autobots transforming around them to join the fight.

"Go for the tower!" Trent yells to her, shooting at a Decepticon coming for them. "We'll cover you!"

"What about the rest of you?" Ari asks, not wanting to just leave them behind. They're her team.

Her friends.

"Don't worry about us," Evie says, shoving her forward towards the tower. "Just go! You've got to take down the bridge."

She looks up to Sideswipe and he nods, so she clenches her fists and all-out sprints, the tower the center of her focus. She jumps over and under rubble and cars, Sideswipe keeping the Decepticons away from her, but there's so many of them, more and more ships coming.

The sky pulses and a hexagonal patter appears in the light blue, slowly taking on a more solid form and Ari realizes that that's it, that's Cybertron. It's slowly getting transported here piece by piece and they only have a matter of minutes before the process is complete.

Optimus suddenly lands on the ground right next to her, his flight gear falling away as he charges into battle, one hand with a sword while the other an axe. He slices through Decepticons left and right, paving a path that Sideswipe and Ari instantly fall into, getting closer and closer to the building.

"Optimus!" she calls after him. "The pillars! Take out one of the pillars!"

In one smooth motion he shoves his sword into a Decepticon, transforms his other arm into a blaster, aims, and fires. He hits the building right below one of the corners where a pillars rests and the building crumbles away, the pillar falling to the ground with a couple of sparks.

The beam of light cuts off but Cybertron is still there, maybe a third of the way formed.

Sentinel and Megatron glare down from atop the tower. The both of them make their way down, Sentinel's optics solely on Optimus while Megatron goes for the pillar.

This isn't over yet.

Ari and Sideswipe continue to run, this time for the fallen pillar in the street, while Optimus goes off to face Sentinel. Megatron gets there before them, though, jabbing at the pillar until it restarts. The pillar picks itself back up, hovering just above the pile of rubble it landed on, and the Space Bridge restarts, continuing to bring Cybertron here.

Ari and Sideswipe come to a stop right in front of Megatron, the Decepticon leader standing in front of the pillar protectively.

"Cybertron _will_ be saved," Megatron declares, his right arm transforming into a blaster.

"And what will happen after, hmm?" Ari asks, activating her blades on both wrists. "What will become of you? Do you still believe Sentinel and you will be partners, that you'll rule both Cybertron and Earth together?"

Megatron growls and she knows she's hit a sore spot, his optics flitting over to where Sentinel and Optimus fight. But he does not move. "It doesn't matter anymore, so long as you are dead at the end of this day, you filthy little insect."

Sideswipe and Ari look to each other and nod.

" _Let's do this. Together."_

And together they charge, Sideswipe going high and Ari going low. Megatron shoots at Sideswipe while trying to reach down to grab Ari but Sideswipe doesn't let him, parrying and blocking so Ari is free to get in close and sever the energon tubes in both of Megatron's ankles. He yells in pain but he doesn't fall, instead punching Sideswipe in the jaw. Sideswipe falls back to the ground and Megatron is instantly on top of him, sticking his blaster under Sideswipe's chin and about to fire.

Ari jumps onto Megatron's back, making Megatron roar and flail in irritation as he tries to grab her. Sideswipe grabs each of Megatron's wrists, restraining him while Ari climbs up to get at Megatron's neck.

She jabs both of her blades into that sweet spot, slicing through as many tubes and wires as she can. Megatron's mouth hangs open in a noiseless scream and then he falls forward on top of Sideswipe, motionless, lifeless.

Ari and Sideswipe are still for a moment, breathing hard. Megatron is dead. They really offlined him.

"Ari, the pillar," Sideswipe says, still trapped beneath Megatron's bulk. "Destroy it. Quickly."

She nods, scrambling off of Megatron and running the rest of the way towards the pillar. She takes out her last grenade, pulls the pin, and shoves it into a gap in the machine, quickly turning on her heel to run in the opposite direction. Sideswipe, now out from under Megatron, plucks her up and cradles her to his chassis, spinning with his back to the pillar to protect her from the blast.

It doesn't just end with one blast, though. Each of the pillars explode, the beam of blue light retracting upward towards Cybertron in a massive power surge. When the energy reaches the half-formed planet, more explosions light up the sky, fire racing across Cybertron. And then with a final burst of light the planet collapses in on itself, almost like it's getting sucked into a black hole. Each piece that has formed gets pulled into the vortex until nothing is left, the portal disappearing completely without a trace of Cybertron left.

It's over.

The fighting has stopped. The Decepticons are all dead or running, the Autobots and humans standing around in a sudden hush. Even Optimus, one arm missing but Sentinel offlined at his feet, Elita standing next to him just putting her blaster away.

It's over. They've won.

And then pain spikes through Ari's skull, her screams and Sideswipe's cries echoing in the silence. Then there is nothing.

* * *

Ari awakens in the desert for what she instinctively knows will be the last time.

It fills her with a strange swirl of emotions. She's glad she never has to go through this again, the pain of gaining a mark, the disorientation of coming and going from this place. But a part of her is going to miss these Primes.

She climbs to her feet and approaches the craggy mountains, the Primes already there waiting for her. The first Prime gives her a sad smile and kneels down in front of her. "You have done well, Ari. Our misguided descendant and the leader of the Decepticons have both been defeated and the Earth is saved."

"Does that mean the war is over now?" she asks.

"No. The war will not be over until all of the Decepticons have been eliminated. Some still remain on Earth while others will make their way there in the future. But this chapter of the war is finished. The next will not begin for some time now."

Well, that's very cryptic of them, but the silence stretches so she knows that is all they will reveal. "What of the AllSpark, then? What is the last mark?"

"The last mark is a gift the AllSpark gives to its vessel."

"A gift? What gift?"

The Prime's smile widens and he gestures towards her arm. "The gift of time."

Ari looks down at her marks. The set is finally complete. The AllSpark mark, larger than the rest, sits on the inside of her forearm right below the crease of her elbow while the six smaller marks create two columns below it going down to her wrist. The sixth one, just as the Prime says, reads time, but Ari's brow furrows in confusion. "Time? What does that mean?"

"It means you will have all the time you need to complete your duties as AllSpark that Primus has set for you. You shall live and survive as the Cube did, until your time is done and another vessel is chosen."

The femme Prime kneels down next to them, meeting Ari's eyes with purpose. "It means, Ari, that you have time to be with your sparkmate."

Tears brim in Ari's eyes as the implications of what they're saying start to fully form in her head. She'll survive. She has time. To be with Sideswipe. All the time. "Are…Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"We are," the first Prime says, him and the femme standing once more. "Go now, Ari, AllSpark. Take care of them."

* * *

Ari's eyes snap open and the first thing she sees is Sideswipe, faceplates creased with worry.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Yeah…," she says, feeling a bit numb as she sits up in his arms.

"Are you sure? Because I felt all that pain when you passed out from the mark forming and it was…it was intense. Has it always been that bad?"

"Yeah," she says again, looking down at her arm and running the pad of her thumb over the new Time mark. Time. She has time. Her head snaps up, searching the crowd of humans and Autobots that's beginning to form around them. "Where's Ratchet?"

Sideswipe's hold on her tightens. "Ratchet?"

She nods urgently. "Yes, I need Ratchet."

"I thought you said you were okay?"

"I am." She wiggles out of Sideswipe's hold and he reluctantly lets her down, following after her as she pushes through the crowd towards the mech she's looking for. He's standing next to Optimus, already looking over the place where Optimus's arm used to be. "Ratchet, I need you to scan me."

Ratchet turns to her, concern creasing his faceplates as well. "Are you injured?"

"No, I just need you to scan me," she insists, holding out her arms at her sides. "As thorough a scan as you can."

"Alright," he agrees, a bit lost, but he picks her up and scans her like she asks.

"What's going on, Ari?" Sideswipe asks, really starting to sound worried now.

"I'll tell you in a minute," she says, eyes never leaving Ratchet's face as he works. "I just need to know for sure."

Please, Primus, let this be real. Please.

Ratchet finishes his scans, placing her back in Sideswipe's arms so he can flick through the screen on his forearm to study the results. And with each passing second his optics get wider and wider. "I would think by now I would stop saying this when it comes to you, little one, but…this is _impossible_."

" _Tell me_ , Ratchet," Ari says. "What have you found?"

"Your healing ability has sped up exponentially. A stab wound would heal in seconds now, but that's not even the most extraordinary part. Your…Your cells, they…."

"What is it, Ratchet?" Will asks from the ground, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. "Spit it out. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing wrong, exactly, just that…Ari, your cells are healing so fast that they've almost completely stopped decaying. You are essentially as ageless as, well, us."

"But what does that mean?" Rob asks, both him and Will looking about ready to beat the answers out of Ratchet.

"It means I have time," Ari says, tears spilling down her face again as she looks up at Sideswipe. "I have time, Sideswipe. That's what they said. I have time to be with you. The AllSpark, it's extended my lifespan."

Sideswipe's optics widen in understanding. "So you…you'll live as long as me? As any of us?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I will."

Unbridled joy slowly rises along the bond, so big and so powerful that Ari can't even tell which of them it's coming from but that doesn't really matter since that answer is probably both of them. It's coming from both of them. They won't lose each other in eighty years. They get to be together for thousands.

Sideswipe pulls her closer to touch his lips to hers and the bond explodes with happiness. Or maybe that's just Sunstreaker's whoop of joy or the applause that builds around them, followed by whistling and cheering. A laugh bubbles up out of her throat, replacing her tears, and she smiles up at him surrounded by the people who care about her, the people who love her.

Her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many feelings, guys.
> 
> So, yes, the AllSpark has fixed our little problem with Ari's lifespan. It's always been the plan but I imagine you're relieved to actually see it. But of course Ari's not going to die in eighty years. This is me, guys. I've always said I'm a fan of happy endings.
> 
> Fraggit, this is the end. Just one more chapter to go and it's a short one, just to tie everything up. It'll be up in a few.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


	80. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a crazy ride, hasn't it. So many ups and downs and twists and turns. Me and my fragging cliff hangers. All the fluff and angst, the scares and the shocks. Everyone has come such a long way. And it's over now. This is the end, my friends. They've reached the end of this journey.
> 
> But there's always the next one to look forward to.
> 
> Go onward and enjoy. One last time.

This time, they at least get back to base before the debriefings start.

It's the aftermath of Mission City and Egypt all over again, all of them corralled together in order to go over what happened so that S.H.I.E.L.D. can get the facts straight for reports and meetings and so on and so forth. They're all exhausted, but Mearing insists they do this now, while it's fresh. She also insists that it won't take too long but Ari's version of not too long is less than an hour.

They're not released for three.

But at least no one is separated from anyone else this time and they allow her to fix Optimus's arm and any other injuries the Autobots have while they debrief. She also takes the chance to give Will and Rob each the biggest hug she's ever given before because she can see the traces of fear left in their eyes, fear for her during all the times they ever lost sight of her. So she hugs them in silent apology and they hug her back, just glad that she's okay, that they're all okay.

Neither Will nor Ari are looking forward to the phone call to Sarah. Ari can't even imagine how scared Sarah must have been, watching it all from the T.V. without hardly knowing anything. She's probably going to flip out at them. But it also makes Ari anxious to see her mom and sister again because, Primus, how many times has she almost died in the last twenty-four hours?

When Ari has to give the account of the fight with Megatron, when she and Sideswipe worked together to offline him, she spends the time on Optimus's shoulder, giving comfort or apology, she's not sure. Megatron was Optimus's brother. Sentinel was family, too. They've both done terrible, horrible things, but she also knows that a part of Optimus still cares about them, even after everything.

He just gives her a small, broken smile, holding Elita close in his arms. He'll mourn them, but the fall of the leader of the Decepticons is also a good thing. So he'll pick himself back up again with the help of his family, both Autobot and human, including Ari. And then he will help lead them into an age of peace, something Megatron would have never allowed.

Mearing wants to go over all the next steps, what they're going to do to track down the rest of the Decepticons, what the Autobots are going to do after, their future missions for S.H.I.E.L.D., but Phil shuts her down, insisting they be allowed to rest. It's really late, Ari's not even sure how late, but the sun was setting when Sentinel finally fell and the bridge shut down. The Autobots and humans all go their separate ways to their own quarters but Phil calls Ari back in order to give her something.

Her I.D. badge labeling her as the Autobot Ambassador.

It's official now, he tells her, and her first official job as Autobot Ambassador is to address the World Security Council about what happened in Chicago and to prepare a press conference to address the world.

Everyone is blaming the Autobots, she's sure, but she'll change that. She'll show them the truth. Humans would be dead or enslaved if it weren't for the Autobots, and the Autobots care about this planet.

It's their home. They'll stand with humans to defend it to the last mech.

Plans and preparations swirl around her head as she thinks about the coming days and weeks and months, some of it things she already has put together in a file in her desk just waiting for the day she becomes ambassador but there's still so much more to do.

She's nervous, but she's also excited, getting to finally be what she's always been meant to become. Both Autobot Ambassador and AllSpark. It's been a long road, getting here. Sometimes it's felt like she's been moving at a snail's pace. Sometimes it's felt like she's been moving at the speed of light. Sometimes moving has been painful and sometimes moving in this direction has been as easy as breathing.

But she's continued to move along through it all, never giving up, with her friends and family and sparkmate at her side. Now that she's made it to this long-awaited destination, she's ready for the next journey it'll bring her.

But for now, rest. All of that can start tomorrow.

Sideswipe carries her back to their room, which neither of them plan on leaving for at least twelve hours. He sets her down on the bed and brings out his holoform, carefully helping her out of her uniform even though it's not really necessary. She doesn't need the help. She's fully healed. But it seems more for his sake than hers, so that he can see for himself that she really is okay, so she stays quiet and lets him.

She changes into pajamas, both of them too tired for anything other than sleep, and when he changes into his bipedal form again he picks her back up and she cuddles against his chassis.

"I love you, Sideswipe," she whispers softly, her chest feeling lighter than it ever has before as she gazes up at him.

He grins, trailing a finger down the side of her face that leaves fiery tingles in its wake. "I love you, too, Ari. Always."

Always. They'll always be together, as long as they both shall live. The human and the alien. The fleshy and the Cybertronian. An impossible couple. An impossible marriage. An impossible union.

But the impossible has never stopped them before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it. Move Along has officially come to a close. I'd like to thank everyone who has been with me on this wonderful journey, whether you discovered this fic at the beginning, the middle, or just yesterday. You all are awesome. I'm so glad you've enjoyed reading this fic so much, your reviews and encouragements always make me smile and have kept me going when I wasn't sure where this fic was headed. Thank you, everyone. It's been a blast and I'll miss you.
> 
> Until the sequel starts, that is.
> 
> I hope you join me for it. I probably won't start posting until the fall. I need a break from this universe and I need time to finish planning it out anyway. I want to do some more writing in my Jurassic World universe too. It will be called When Hope is Gone. Keep an eye out for it around August/September.
> 
> I know, you're probably worried about that title, but don't worry. Fan of happy endings, that is me.
> 
> And Move Along has certainly had a happy ending. It's been great guys.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE COMMENT, and see you all next time!


End file.
